Clinical analysis of systemic sclerosis patients with digital ulcer: from Chinese EUSTAR database / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical and laboratory characteristics of systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients with digital ulcer(DU) in China.MethodThe data of 166 consecutive SSc patients in EUSTAR DATABASE in Peking Union Medical Colloge Hospital from February 2009 to August 2010 were prospectively collected,and patients with DU were compared with those without DU.All patients fulfilled the ACR classification criteria for SSc in 1980.Results① Forty-nine patients (29.5％) had DU in 166 SSc patients.The disease onset age was(36±12) years(8.1-61.7 years) for those patients with DU.All had Raynaud's phenomenon(RP).② Demographic datathere were significant differences between patients with and without DU in sex (F/M 40/9 vs 112/5,P=0.005),age [(40±12) years old vs(46±12) years old,P=0.005],the onset age of RP [(33±12) years vs(39±13) years,P=0.005] and the duration from RP to the first non-RP presentaion[ (18±15) months vs(115±307) months,P=0.002 ].③ Clinical manifestations and laboratory findings:there were more diffuse SSc patients and more esophageal involvement in patients with DU (P＜0.05).ConclusionsDU in SSc patients is common,especially in man and patients with diffuse SSc.SSc patients with DU usually are younger when RP onsets and the non-RP manifestations usually present earlier when compared with those patients without DU.