Table 1.
Characteristics of the study population.
| Whole group (N = 675) | Normal hs-cTnT, NT-proBNP, and CRP (N = 403) | Abnormal hs-cTnT (N = 158) | Abnormal NT-proBNP (N = 108) | Abnormal CRP (N = 127) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean (SD) or N (%) | # of missing | Mean (SD) or N (%) | Mean (SD) or N (%) | Mean (SD) or N (%) | Mean (SD) or N (%) | |
| Age, years | 58.2 (11.3) | 0 | 58.0 (10.7) | 61.5 (12.7) | 58.7 (11.9) | 57.3 (11.9) |
| Female | 597 (88.4%) | 0 | 365 (90.6%) | 135 (85.4%) | 84 (77.8%) | 112 (88.2%) |
| White | 592 (90.5%) | 21 | 360 (91.6%) | 142 (92.8%) | 94 (88.7%) | 110 (88.7%) |
| Cardiovascular risk factors | ||||||
| Smoking (ever) | 397 (59.3%) | 6 | 244 (61.0%) | 88 (56.1%) | 57 (52.8%) | 81 (64.3%) |
| Hypertension | 253 (37.5%) | 1 | 133 (33.0%) | 72 (45.9%) | 60 (55.6%) | 48 (37.8%) |
| Diabetes | 53 (7.9%) | 5 | 21 (5.3%) | 20 (12.7%) | 15 (13.9%) | 16 (12.6%) |
| BMI > 30 kg/m2 | 113 (17.1%) | 14 | 65 (16.5%) | 18 (11.5%) | 15 (13.9%) | 29 (23.6%) |
| Comorbidities | ||||||
| Myocardial infarction | 40 (6.0%) | 5 | 12 (3.0%) | 22 (14.0%) | 9 (8.3%) | 7 (5.5%) |
| Congestive heart failure | 71 (10.6%) | 5 | 26 (6.5%) | 33 (21.0%) | 26 (24.1%) | 15 (11.8%) |
| Peripheral vascular disease | 24 (3.6%) | 5 | 10 (2.5%) | 8 (5.1%) | 7 (6.5%) | 4 (3.2%) |
| Cerebrovascular accident | 34 (5.1%) | 5 | 15 (3.8%) | 13 (8.3%) | 8 (7.4%) | 7 (5.5%) |
| Disease duration, years | ||||||
| From first NR (non-Raynaud’s) symptom | 13.7 (9.1) | 0 | 13.7 (9.3) | 11.8 (8.7) | 15.1 (9.2) | 13.8 (8.9) |
| From onset of RP (Raynaud’s phenomenon) | 17.7 (12.0) | 11 | 18.0 (11.8) | 15.0 (11.8) | 19.4 (12.3) | 17.8 (12.1) |
| Modified Rodnan Skin Score | 8.3 (8.6) | 14 | 6.9 (7.2) | 12.4 (12.6) | 10.1 (9.8) | 10.7 (9.8) |
| Diffuse cutaneous SSc | 301 (44.6%) | 0 | 160 (39.7%) | 80 (50.6%) | 62 (57.4%) | 64 (50.4%) |
| Scleroderma renal crisis | 27 (4.0%) | 5 | 10 (2.5%) | 10 (9.3%) | 12 (7.6%) | 7 (5.5%) |
| Shortness of breath (0–10) | 44 | |||||
| Median, [Q1, Q3] | 1.0 [0, 3.0] | 1.0 [0, 2.0] | 2.0 [0, 6.0] | 8.0 [2.5, 14.0] | 1.0 [0, 5.0] | |
| FVC, %predicted | 91.8 (19.0) | 108 | 96.9 (17.7) | 82.1 (20.2) | 82.4 (18.4) | 82.6 (18.5) |
| DLCO, %predicted | 69.0 (21.4) | 141 | 73.8 (21.0) | 56.9 (19.1) | 58.0 (18.7) | 62.5 (19.7) |
| SPAP, mmHg | 34.8 (15.7) | 276 | 31.2 (11.3) | 43.5 (18.6) | 44.9 (23.0) | 39.6 (17.2) |
| Inflammatory myositis | 40 (6.0%) | 4 | 17 (4.3%) | 14 (8.9%) | 14 (13.0%) | 9 (7.1%) |
| Inflammatory arthritis | 108 (16.2%) | 8 | 59 (14.8%) | 30 (19.4%) | 15 (14.0%) | 22 (17.6%) |
| GI-14 | 44 | |||||
| Median, [Q1, Q3] | 2.0 [1.0, 5.0] | 2.0 [1.0, 4.0] | 3.0 [1.0, 5.0] | 3.0 [1.0, 5.0] | 3.0 [1.0, 5.0] | |
| Digital ulcers | 242 (36.1%) | 4 | 136 (34.0%) | 65 (41.4%) | 48 (44.4%) | 49 (38.9%) |
| Antibodies | 49 | |||||
| Anti-centromere | 246 (39.3%) | 162 (43.8%) | 54 (36.0%) | 28 (27.7%) | 38 (31.9%) | |
| Anti-topoisomerase I | 97 (15.5%) | 47 (12.7%) | 32 (21.3%) | 22 (21.8%) | 22 (18.5%) | |
| Anti-RNA polymerase III | 92 (14.7%) | 54 (14.6%) | 19 (12.7%) | 18 (17.8%) | 20 (16.8%) | |
| Follow-up time, years | 3.0 (1.8) | 0 | 2.9 (1.8) | 3.1 (1.7) | 3.2 (1.8) | 3.0 (1.7) |
| Mortality | 101 (15.0%) | 0 | 32 (7.9%) | 43 (27.2%) | 37 (34.3%) | 30 (23.6%) |
| Pulmonary arterial hypertension, ever | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pulmonary hypertension, ever | 89 (13.3%) | 7 | 26 (6.5%) | 41 (26.3%) | 32 (29.6%) | 25 (20.0%) |
| Arrhythmias | 48 (7.1%) | 0 | 17 (4.2%) | 28 (17.7%) | 16 (14.8%) | 10 (7.9%) |
| Pacemaker, ever* | 8 (1.3%) | 4 (1.1%) | 4 (2.8%) | 4 (4.2%) | 1 (0.9%) | |
| Anti-arrhythmic medications | 41 (6.1%) | 13 (3.2%) | 25 (15.8%) | 13 (12.0%) | 10 (7.9%) | |
| Left ventricular ejection fraction | 135 | |||||
| Normal | 517 (95.7%) | 328 (98.2%) | 115 (91.3%) | 73 (86.9%) | 86 (96.6%) | |
| Mildly decreased (<50%) | 11 (2.1%) | 3 (0.9%) | 3 (2.4%) | 5 (5.9%) | 3 (3.4%) | |
| Moderately decreased (<45%) | 4 (0.7%) | 2 (0.6%) | 2 (1.6%) | 0 | 0 | |
| Severely decreased (<40%) | 8 (1.5%) | 1 (0.3%) | 6 (4.7%) | 6 (7.2%) | 0 | |
| Interstitial lung disease | 281 (42.1%) | 7 | 1 35 (33.9%) | 80 (51.3%) | 58 (53.7%) | 75 (59.1%) |
hs-cTnT: high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T; NT-proBNP: N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide; CRP: C-reactive protein; SD: standard deviation; BMI: body mass index; FVC: forced vital capacity; DLCO: diffusion capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide; SPAP: systolic pulmonary artery pressure; GI: gastrointestinal.
*
“ever” means prior to the visit when BNP/TNT was measured.