Clinical Characteristics Among SSc Patients May Overlap with SSc-MCTD
Clinical characteristics among patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and systemic sclerosis–mixed connective tissue disease (SSc–MCTD) may overlap, recent research revealed.
Researchers also determined antiribonucleoprotein (RNP) antibodies can be associated with greater survival rates among patients with SSc, than anti–Scl-70 and anti-RNA polymerase III antibodies.
The study included patients from the Australian Scleroderma Cohort Study who met the criteria for SSc according to the American College of Rheumatology and European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology.
“Three mutually exclusive groups were created: SSc–MCTD, SSc overlap, and SSc only,” the authors reported. “Univariate comparison of clinical features was performed by analysis of variance or chi-square test. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan-Meier (KM) curves and Cox proportional hazards regression models.”
Among the 1728 patients within the study, 97 (5.6%) had SSc-MCTD, and 126 (7.3%) had SSc overlap. Patients with MCTD-SSc were more commonly Asian and younger at disease onset.
“Those with SSc-MCTD or SSc overlap were more likely to have limited cutaneous SSc. All 3 groups had similar frequency of interstitial lung disease (ILD), although pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) was less common in SSc overlap,” the authors concluded. “Patients with SSc–MCTD and SSc overlap had lower mortality following diagnosis of ILD and PAH than patients with SSc only.”
—Angelique Platas
Reference
Fairley JL, Hansen D, Proudman S, et al., Clinical features of systemic sclerosis–mixed connective tissue disease and systemic sclerosis overlap syndromes. Arthritis Care Res. 2021;73(5): 732-741.
