Primary Raynaud's phenomenon and nailfold videocapillaroscopy: age-related changes in capillary morphology

This study aimed to detect by nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) the presence of age-related capillary morphological patterns in a large cohort of subjects affected by primary Raynaud's phenomenon (PRP). NVC was performed in 877 patients affected by PRP, divided into three age groups:35, 35-55 and55 years. The following qualitative parameters were assessed and compared in the three groups of patients: apical dilations, irregular (non-homogeneous) dilations, venous branch dilations, microhaemorrhages, tortuosities and subpapillary venous plexus visibility. Patients with either irregular dilations or venous branch dilations were found significantly younger than those without (p 0.0001). The presence of either irregular or venous branch dilations seems to exclude the presence of apical dilations. Patients with microhaemorrhages were found significantly younger than those without (p = 0.05), and 81 % of patients without microhaemorrhages did not show irregular and venous branch dilations. The subpapillary venous plexus seems more visible in subjects with age 35, as well as in those with age 55 years (p 0.0001). A statistically significant negative correlation was found between presence of apical and irregular dilations (p 0.0001), apical dilations and venous branch dilations (p = 0.02), apical dilations and tortuosities (p = 0.0005), microhaemorrhages and tortuosities (p 0.0001) and venous branch dilations and tortuosities (p = 0.02). Finally, a statistically significant positive correlation was found between irregular and venous branch dilations (p 0.0001), irregular dilations and microhaemorrhages (p 0.0001) and venous branch dilations and microhaemorrhages (p 0.0001). In conclusion, our study detected different age-related morphological capillary changes mainly in younger patients with PRP, as well as statistically significant correlations between the presence of different capillary variables.