Rhabdomyolysis in Severe Fever With Thrombocytopenia Syndrome: Associations With Acute Kidney Injury and Mortality

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging zoonosis caused by a novel bunyavirus. Until recently, rhabdomyolysis in SFTS was not elucidated. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and clinical characteristics of rhabdomyolysis and its association with AKI and prognosis in patients with SFTS. A total of 231 consecutive patients diagnosed with SFTS were enrolled, including 144 (62.3%) patients in the no rhabdomyolysis group and 87 (37.7%) patients in the rhabdomyolysis group. Clinical characteristics and laboratory parameters of SFTS patients were compared between the no rhabdomyolysis and rhabdomyolysis groups. Patients with rhabdomyolysis had more frequency of confusion, cough, sputum, chest distress, abdominal pain, petechia and ecchymosis, headache, myalgia, and myasthenia than those without rhabdomyolysis. Compared with patients in the no rhabdomyolysis group, patients in the rhabdomyolysis group had higher serum levels of laboratory parameters referring to liver, kidney, pancreas, heart, coagulation system injury, and higher viral load. The cumulative survival rate of patients with rhabdomyolysis was significantly lower than that of patients without rhabdomyolysis. Furthermore, univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses demonstrated that rhabdomyolysis was an independent predictor for acute kidney injury and mortality in patients with SFTS. Rhabdomyolysis may be an important contributing factor to adverse outcomes and its effects on mortality may be mediated by acute kidney injury in SFTS. The early detection and effective intervention of rhabdomyolysis may decrease the mortality of patients with SFTS.