Predictive factors and prognosis of macrophage activation syndrome associated with adult-onset Still's disease

Objective. To summarise the clinical data of adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) patients and analyse their clinical manifestations, predictors for the formation and prognosis of macrophage activation syndrome (MAS). Methods. A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 182 AOSD hospitalised patients from the Department of Rheumatology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, China from January 2012 to August 2018, including 11 patients with pathogenesis of MAS. Results. Compared with the patients without MAS, the patients with MAS had a higher incidence of splenomegaly and pericarditis at the initial diagnosis of AOSD. The number of platelets (PLT) and the concentration of fibrinogen (FIB), D-Dimer and ferritin were significantly higher in AOSD-MAS patients. Multivariate regression analysis showed that splenomegaly (OR: 5.748, 95% CI: 1.378-23.984, p=0.016), pericarditis (OR: 6.492, 95% CI: 1.43-29.461, p=0.015), and ferritin >2000 mu g/L (OR: 4.715, 95% CI: 1.12-19.86, p=0.035) were risk factors for MAS. Survival analysis indicated that the mortality of AOSD-MAS patients was significantly higher than patients without MAS. Conclusion. Splenomegaly, pericarditis and elevated ferritin concentration are risk factors for MAS formation in AOSD patients. MAS resulted in a significant decrease in the survival rate of the AOSD patients.