Progressive skin fibrosis is associated with a decline in lung function and worse survival in patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis in the european scleroderma trials and research (eustar) cohort

PubMed: 30852552
Objectives To determine whether progressive skin fibrosis is associated with visceral organ progression and mortality during follow-up in patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc). Methods We evaluated patients from the European Scleroderma Trials and Research database with dcSSc, baseline modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS) ?7, valid mRSS at 12±3 months after baseline and ?1 annual follow-up visit. Progressive skin fibrosis was defined as an increase in mRSS >5 and ?25% from baseline to 12±3 months. Outcomes were pulmonary, cardiovascular and renal progression, and all-cause death. Associations between skin progression and outcomes were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and multivariable Cox regression. Results Of 1021 included patients, 78 (7.6%) had progressive skin fibrosis (skin progressors). Median follow-up was 3.4 years. Survival analyses indicated that skin progressors had a significantly higher probability of FVC decline ?10% (53.6% vs 34.4%; p
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1Department of Rheumatology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, switzerland 2Graf Biostatistics, Winterthur, switzerland 3Clinical Development Pulmonology, Bayer Us llC, Whippany, new Jersey, Usa 4Data science and analytics, Bayer plc, Reading, UK 5Rheumatology a Department, Paris Descartes University, inseRM U1016, sorbonne, Paris Cité, Cochin Hospital, Paris, France 6Division of Rheumatology, University of Florence, Florence, italy 7Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, University of Western Ontario, st. Joseph’s Health Care, london, Western Ontario, Canada 8Department of Rheumatology, Royal Free Hospital, University College london, london, UK 9scleroderma Program, Department of internal Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, University of Michigan, ann arbor, Michigan, Usa Acknowledgements The authors thank nicole schneider for excellent administration and data entry into the eUsTaR cohort. Medical writing assistance was provided by adelphi Communications ltd (Bollington, UK), funded by Bayer aG (Berlin, Germany).
This study was supported by a grant from Bayer aG.