Abstract
Background: Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a frequent complication and a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Systemic Scleroderma (SSc).
The aim of our study was to determine the frequency of ILD in a cohort of Tunisian SSc and to assess the influence of this association on clinical, biological features and outcome of SSc.
Methods: A retrospective study included 30 consecutive patients with SSc who fulfilled the American Rheumatism Association's criteria. Patients were divided in two groups according to the occurrence (group 1) or not (group 2) of ILD. We compared the epidemiological, clinical, laboratory features and outcomes between the two groups. The data were compared by the Chi squared correct by fisher exact test and student test.
Results: Thirteen patients (43, 3%) developed ILD. The patients were 12 women and one men, aged between 15 and 71 years (mean: 47.1 years) with the duration of the disease ranging from 4 to 348 months (mean: 81.7 months).
The most common presenting complaints are dyspnoea on exertion in 76.9% and dry cough in 46.1%. The ILD was asymptomatic in 3 cases (23%).
The comparison of the two groups showed that digital pitting, inflammatory syndrome and anti-Scl70 antibodies were significantly more common in the group 1. No differences were noted concerning sex ratio, mean age at SSc onset and delay of diagnosis. However, mortality rate was significantly higher in patients with ILD (46.1% vs 6.2%, p=0,025).
Conclusion: Our study confirms that ILD is a common manifestation of SSc, mainly encountered in patients with anti-SCL 70 antibodies and associated with poor prognosis.
- © 2012 ERS
