| This retrospective study analyzed data from 14,829 patients with the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), indicated by an ICD-9-CM coding of 710.0. The secondary data obtained from the DFW Hospital Council for the years 1999 to 2005 was utilized to identify the most common procedures among patients hospitalized with SLE during a seven-year time frame. Statistical analyses examined the relationship between descriptive covariates such as age, race/ethnicity, gender, cost of hospitalization, length of stay, urban versus rural, and insurance type and the common procedures performed in patients hospitalized with SLE. The frequencies of the common procedures performed on patients with SLE were calculated. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate which of the covariates were predictive of the common procedures performed among the patients with SLE.;Forty-five procedure categories of commonly performed procedures were identified for the study patients. It was found that only three procedure categories were performed in more than 10% of the patients. These most frequently performed procedures fell under the categories of cardiovascular intravascular imaging (20.2%), Blood product infusion (13.9%), and kidney dialysis (11.4%). These procedure categories were congruent with the common comorbidities in SLE patients that have been documented in literature.;This study did not find the diagnosis of SLE to be a strong predictor of procedures. This study's findings are valuable in understanding SLE patients, especially as it relates to procedures. The frequency for which the procedures related to the comorbidities of cardiovascular disease and renal disease holds implications for health educators. A health educator can identify ways to address primary care issues for the SLE patients and focus on disease prevention. Knowing the value of health promotion, a health educator is an ideal professional to promote health and quality of life for the SLE patients; thus decreasing the risk of these comorbidities and related procedures. |
