Changes in estimated right ventricular systolic pressure predict mortality and pulmonary hypertension in a cohort of scleroderma patients
Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, 08/21/2012
Clinical Article
Shah AA et al. – In a population of scleroderma patients, the rate of increase in right ventricular systolic pressure is a risk factor for mortality and pulmonary arterial hypertension even after adjustment for clinical characteristics and longitudinal pulmonary function test data.
Methods- The study population consisted of scleroderma patients who had at least three echocardiograms and pulmonary function tests (PFTs) over ≥1 year as part of routine care.
- The annual rate of change in RVSP was determined for each subject.
- Cox proportional hazards regression was performed to assess the association between PAH and mortality and change in RVSP/year, adjusted for relevant covariates.
- 613 scleroderma patients with 3244 echocardiograms were studied.
- The adjusted relative hazards of PAH and mortality were 1.08 (95% CI 1.05–1.11) and 1.12 (95% CI 1.08–1.15) per 1 mm Hg increase in RVSP/year, respectively.
- Compared with patients with a stable RVSP, the relative hazards for the development of PAH were 1.90 (95% CI 0.91–3.96), 5.09 (95% CI 2.53–10.26) and 6.15 (95% CI 3.58–10.56) for subjects whose RVSP increased at rates of 1–1.99, 2–2.99 and 3+ mm Hg/year.
- Compared with the same reference group, the relative hazards for death were 0.92 (95% CI 0.48–1.73), 2.16 (95% CI 1.16–4.01) and 5.05 (95% CI 3.47–7.34) for subjects whose RVSP increased at rates of 1–1.99, 2–2.99 and 3+ mm Hg/year.
