Table 1.
Patient Characteristics of Systemic Sclerosis versus non-Systemic Sclerosis Patients with and Without Hypertension. Demographics, important cardiovascular comorbidities, medications, and SSc disease specific characteristics are presented for SSc patients versus non-SSc controls based on the presence of essential hypertension.
| SSc−HTN− (n=40) |
SSc+HTN− (n=82) |
p value1 | SSc−HTN+ (n=40) |
SSc+HTN+ (n=56) |
p value2 | p value3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, years | 53.5 ± 14.0 | 51.5 ± 13.1 | NS | 54.2 ± 16.9 | 58.5 ± 10.5 | NS | 0.001 |
| Women, n (%) | 35 (87.7) | 75 (91.5) | NS | 33 (82.5) | 46 (82.1) | NS | NS |
| Race, n (%) | |||||||
| White | 33 (82.5) | 66 (81.7) | NS | 27 (67.5) | 37 (64) | NS | 0.007 |
| Black | 4 (10) | 10 (12.2) | 11 (27.5) | 16 (32) | |||
| Other | 3 (7.5) | 6 (7.3) | 2 (5) | 1 (2) | |||
| Ever smoker, n (%) | 15 (37.5) | 30 (36.6) | NS | 14 (35) | 21 (37.5) | NS | NS |
| Diabetes mellitus, n (%) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | -- | 7 (17.5) | 9 (16.1) | NS | 0.007 |
| Atrial fibrillation | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | -- | 2 (5) | 3 (5.4) | NS | NS |
| Hypercholesterolemia | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | -- | 16 (40) | 25 (44.6) | NS | <0.0001 |
| Anti-HTN medications, n (%) | |||||||
| Beta-blocker | NA | NA | NA | 12 (30) | 14 (28) | NS | NA |
| Calcium channel blocker | NA | NA | NA | 8 (20) | 48 (85.7) | <0.0001 | NA |
| ACE-inhibitor/ARB | NA | NA | NA | 10 (25) | 44 (78.6) | <0.0001 | NA |
| Diuretics | NA | NA | NA | 10 (25) | 20 (38) | NS | NA |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 | 28.1 ± 7.2 | 25.0 ± 5.6 | <0.05 | 27.8 ± 5.7 | 27.4 ± 5.8 | NS | 0.02 |
| Body surface area, m2 | 1.82 ± 0.17 | 1.73 ± 0.21 | <0.05 | 1.98 ± 0.47 | 1.82 ± 0.24 | 0.05 | 0.01 |
| Scleroderma disease duration, median years | NA | 15.7 ± 10.7 | NA | NA | 16.5 ±11.9 | NA | NS |
| Scleroderma subtype, n (%) | |||||||
| Limited | NA | 50 (61.0) | NA | NA | 33 (58.9) | NA | NS |
| Diffuse | NA | 32 (39.0) | NA | 23 (41.1) | |||
| Autoantibody status, n | |||||||
| ANA [N=138] | NA | 82 | NA | NA | 53 | NA | NA |
| Centromere [N=137] | NA | 26 | NA | NA | 14 | NA | NS |
| Topoisomerase 1 [N=136] | NA | 26 | NA | NA | 12 | NA | NS |
| RNA polymerase III [N=115] | NA | 12 | NA | NA | 7 | NA | NS |
| Pulmonary function data, % predicted | |||||||
| FVC % predicted [N=134] | NA | 84.1 ± 16.6 | NA | NA | 80.3 ± 21.0 | NA | NS |
| DLCO % predicted [N=132] | NA | 83.6 ± 24.4 | NA | NA | 78.0 ± 26.7 | NA | NS |
List of abbreviations: HTN, systemic hypertension, SSc, systemic sclerosis; NS, not statistically significant; NA, not available/not applicable; ACE, angiotensin converting enzyme; ARB, angiotensin II receptor type 1 blocker; ANA, anti-nuclear antibodies; RNA, ribonucleic acid; FVC, forced vital capacity; DLCO, diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide. Groups are defined as non-SSc controls without HTN (SSc−HTN−), SSc patients without HTN (SSc+HTN−), non-SSc controls with HTN (SSc−HTN+), and SSc patients with HTN (SSc+HTN+). Data are expressed as mean ± standard deviation, absolute number, percentage, or median, if specified. Independent unpaired t-test and Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test for non-parametric data were used to compare continuous variables between SSc patients and control subjects, while Chi-square test and Fisher exact test were used to compare categorical data. A cut-off p value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
p value: comparison between SSc−HTN− and SSc+HTN−.
p value: comparison between SSc−HTN+ and SSc+HTN+.
p value: comparison between SSc+HTN− and SSc+HTN+.