The in-hospital mortality of granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener’s) (GPA)—a type of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis—has declined substantially over the past 2 decades, while the overall hospitalization rate for GPA increased slightly, according to a recent study. Using the National Inpatient Sample, the largest all-payer inpatient database in the US, trends in hospitalizations with a discharge diagnosis of GPA between 1993 and 2011 were studied. Analyses were performed using hospital-level sampling weights to obtain US national estimates. Researchers found:

• From 1993 to 2011, the annual hospitalization rate for patients with a principal diagnosis of GPA increased by 24%, from 5.1 to 6.3 per 1 million US persons; however, in-hospital deaths in this group declined by 73%, from 9.1% to 2.5%, resulting in a 66% net reduction in the annual in-hospital mortality rate.
• The median length of stay declined by 20%, from 6.9 days in 1993 to 5.5 days in 2011.
• Infection was the most common principal discharge diagnosis when GPA was a secondary diagnosis, including among those who died during hospitalization.