Comparison of clinical presentation and incidence of cardiopulmonary complications between male and female Thai patients with early systemic sclerosis: inception cohort study

To determine the prevalence of clinical manifestations and incidence rate of cardiopulmonary complications in a comparison between men and women with early SSc. An inception cohort of early-SSc patients at the Rheumatology Clinic, Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital, between January 2010 and June 2016, was used. All patients were assessed for clinical manifestations and underwent ECG, echocardiography, and HRCT at the study entry and then annually. One hundred and fifteen patients (46 male, 90 dcSSc) with a mean (SD) disease duration of 11.6 months (8.8) at cohort entry were enrolled during a mean (SD) observational period of 3.8 years (1.6). At enrollment, the male group had a higher prevalence of dcSSc subtype (91.3% vs. 69.5%, p = 0.006), hypo-hyperpigmentation (84.8% vs. 65.2%, p = 0.021), myositis (26.1% vs. 10.1%, p = 0.024), and right ventricular dysfunction [RVD] (8.7% vs. 0%, p = 0.024) compared with women. At the last visit, the male group had a higher cumulative prevalence of digital ulcers (47.8% vs. 27.5%, p = 0.026), telangiectasia (93.5% vs. 69.6%, p = 0.002), joint contracture (69.6% vs. 43.5%, p = 0.006), tendon friction rub (39.1% vs. 20.3%, p = 0.027), LVEF