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ACR/EULAR criteria more sensitive than ARA 1980 criteria to diagnose SSc
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The American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism criteria for the diagnosis of systemic sclerosis was more sensitive than the 1980 American Rheumatology Association criteria, particularly in early, sine scleroderma or limited forms of the disease, according to a study.
Researchers studied 1,222 patients from the Spanish scleroderma registry (RESCLE) cohort created in 2006 and excluded 65 patients for incomplete data. Mean age at disease onset was 45 years while the mean age at diagnosis was 52 years and 89% were women. The most common first symptom was Raynaud’s syndrome in 83% of patients. A diagnosis of limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (SSc) was made for 60.5% of patients, diffuse cutaneous SSc was diagnosed in 25.2% of patients, SSc sine scleroderma was diagnosed in 8.3% and incomplete SSc was diagnosed in 5.8% of patients. Over the 5 year study period, 17% of patients in the registry died.
The American College of Rheumatology (ACR)/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) criteria were compared to the 1980 American Rheumatology Association (ARA) criteria in the cohort of patients with SSc. The ACR/EULAR criteria allowed researchers to identify 34.5% more patients with limited cutaneous SSc, 31.6% more patients with SSc sine scleroderma and 15.9% more patients with incomplete SSc. In total, 24.5% more patients with SSC were identified using ACR/EULAR criteria compared to 1980 ARA criteria, and 15.9% pf patients with incomplete SSc were considered to full SSc.
“The new ACR/EULAR classification criteria for SSc show better accuracy than the old ARA criteria, classifying a greater number of patients with SSc, especially in the [limited cutaneous SSc], [SSc sine scleroderma], and pre-SSc subsets,” the researchers wrote. “Using these new criteria should allow identification and treatment of patients with SSc in earlier stages, and perhaps improve their prognosis.” – by Shirley Pulawski
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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