Researchers identify incidence and risk factors for new-onset interstitial lung disease in systemic sclerosis

New research at ACR Convergence 2023, the American College of Rheumatology's (ACR) annual meeting, reports the incidence and risk factors for new-onset interstitial lung disease (ILD) in previously ILD-negative systemic sclerosis patients.

Although the prevalence and risk factors for ILD are well known, less is known about the annual incidence and risk factors associated with the disease that occurs in patients who test negative on screening tests conducted at baseline. To answer these questions, study authors drew on data from the European Scleroderma Trials and Research (EUSTAR) group, an international scleroderma research network.

The team identified 5,331 SSc patients who were ILD-negative at baseline on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT), the gold standard for diagnosing SSc-ILD. Based on follow-up imaging, the researchers divided patients into two groups: new-onset ILD (incident group) and those who remained ILD-negative (negative group). Incidence was calculated as the rate per 100 person-years, starting from the first visit to a center.

Results showed that new-onset ILD occurred in 1,075 or 20.2% of patients with a median of 3.8 years follow-up. Factors that predicted ILD included:

• Shortness of breath (stage two or higher based on the New York Heart Association classification system)

• Male sex

• Age

• Elevated inflammatory markers

• Hemoglobin level

• Anti-topoisomerase I antibodies (anti-topo I)

• Anti-centromere antibodies

Reference: AMERICAN COLLEGE OF RHEUMATOLOGY