Abstract:

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of patients with relapsing polychondritis (RP) involving airway. Methods The clinical data of 141 RP patients hospitalized in the First Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University from July 2007 to December 2023 were analyzed retrospectively. Results The incidence of airway involvement in RP patients was 58.87%, among which airway wall thickening was the most common. RP patients with airway involvement were diagnosed at a later age (P=0.011). RP patients without airway involvement were more likely to have ear cartilage, eye and cardiovascular system involvement (P=0.008, P=0.009 and P=0.021); the hypersensitive C-reactive protein and platelet counts in RP patients without airway involvement were higher than those in RP patients with airway involvement (P=0.023, P=0.013), while the neutrophil counts in the patients were lower than those in RP patients with airway involvement (P=0.018). Univariate Logistic regression analysis showed that age at diagnosis and neutrophil count were positively correlated with airway involvement. In contrast, ear cartilage, eye and cardiovascular involvement, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, hypersensitive C-reactive protein, platelet count, and alanine transferase were negatively correlated with airway involvement. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis confirmed that age at diagnosis and neutrophil count were independent risk factors for airway involvement. Conclusions Airway involvement in RP patients is related to age at diagnosis and neutrophil count. The patients should receive regular chest CT and bronchial examination if necessary.

Key words: Relapsing polychondritis, Airway involvement, Clinical features