Clinical and laboratory features of African-Brazilian patients with systemic sclerosis

ConclusionAfrican-Brazilians have distinct characteristics according to clinical subset and an overall more severe SSc than whites, similar to the blacks from other countries.Key Points• African-Brazilian SSc patients were associated with severe interstitial lung disease and nucleolar ANA pattern when compared to white SSc patients.• When disease subsets were considered, African-Brazilian patients with diffuse SSc presented association with pulmonary hypertension, heart involvement, nucleolar ANA pattern, and anti-fibrillarin antibodies.• White SSc patients were associated with centromeric ANA pattern.• Survival analysis at 5, 10, 15, and 20 years, adjusted for age, gender, and disease subset, was significantly worse in African-Brazilian SSc patients.
Source: Clinical Rheumatology - Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research