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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2018 Oct 14;48(6):1059–1067. doi: 10.1016/j.semarthrit.2018.10.010

Table 1:

Stepwise exclusion of manuscripts

Step 1 exclusion criteria

  1. Not written in English, not concerned with human subjects, or not pertaining to adult studies.

  2. Not pertaining to pulmonary hypertension or connective tissue diseases.

  3. Genetic studies or polymorphisms or molecular/enzymatic mechanisms except serum/plasma biomarkers.

  4. Articles related to treatment or prognosis of pulmonary hypertension.

  5. Editorials, letters, case reports, opinions, author replies or comments.

Step 2 exclusion criteria

  1. Does not have an abstract, unless it is a review article.

  2. Not a case control or cohort study.

  3. A case-control or cohort study with less than 20 patients with connective tissue disease.

  4. Not pertaining to pulmonary hypertension or elevated pulmonary artery pressure.

  5. Not pertaining to connective tissue disease.

  6. Genetic studies or polymorphisms or molecular/enzymatic mechanisms except serum/plasma biomarkers.

  7. Editorials, letters, case reports, opinions, author replies, comments, and review articles.

  8. Not using RHC to diagnose PAH.

Step 3 exclusion criteria

  1. Pertaining to exercise-induced PAH only.

  2. Pertaining to pre-PAH, such borderline PAH.

  3. Discussing prognosis and/or treatment response only.

  4. For case-control studies, does not have appropriate comparator, such as CTD without PH.

  5. Does not exclude interstitial lung disease or left heart disease.

RHC = right heart catheterization, PAH = pulmonary arterial hypertension, CTD = connective tissue disease, PH = pulmonary hypertension