Corticosteroids may improve clinical outcomes during hospitalization for Henoch-Schönlein purpura.

Abstract

To characterize the effect of corticosteroid exposure on clinical outcomes in children hospitalized with new-onset Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP). We conducted a retrospective cohort study of children discharged with an International Classification of Diseases, Clinical Modification code of HSP between 2000 and 2007 by using inpatient administrative data from 36 tertiary care children's hospitals. We used stratified Cox proportional hazards regression models to estimate the relative effect of time-varying corticosteroid exposure on the risks of clinical outcomes that occur during hospitalization for acute HSP. During the 8-year study period, there were 1895 hospitalizations for new-onset HSP. After multivariable regression modeling adjustment, early corticosteroid exposure significantly reduced the hazard ratios for abdominal surgery (0.39 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.17-0.91]), endoscopy (0.27 [95% CI: 0.13-0.55]), and abdominal imaging (0.50 [95% CI: 0.29-0.88]) during hospitalization. In the hospital setting, early corticosteroid exposure was associated with benefits for several clinically relevant HSP outcomes, specifically those related to the gastrointestinal manifestations of the disease.