Author(s)

Shikha Mittoo, Marie Hudson, Ernest Lo, Russell Steele, Keng Wong, David Robinson, Zoheir Bshouty, Murray Baron

Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada;.
Department of Medicine, Rheumatic Disease Unit, Section of Rheumatology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
Department of Medicine, Section of Respirology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada..
Jewish General Hospital and McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

Introduction: Predictors of lung function decline in systemic sclerosis (SSc) are unknown. Serum pneumoprotein levels, surfactant protein-D (SP-D) and Krebs von den Lungen-6 (KL-6), correlate with pulmonary damage. We aimed to test whether levels can predict rapid lung function decline in SSc. Methods: SSc patients who had serial pulmonary function tests (PFT) were analyzed for SP-D and KL-6 levels by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Levels were correlated with an annual rate of decline in % predicted forced vital capacity (FVC) of >﹣2% (out-come); controls did not experience this FVC decline. Uni- and multi-variate analysis, adjusting for age, disease duration, gender, baseline % predicted FVC, SP-D, and KL-6, was performed. Results are reported as mean ± SD. Results: Thirty three cases and 25 controls had a disease duration of 8.8 ± 7.3 and 8.3 ± 6.1 years, respectively. In adjusted analyses, lung function decline correlated with greater baseline FVC OR = 1.03 [95% CI of 1.00-1.07]; a trend towards significance was observed for greater levels of SP-D with FVC decline, OR = 1.37 [95% CI of 0.96-2.12]. Conclusion: Our data provide evidence that SSc patients with long-standing disease are still at risk for lung function decline and SP-D levels may predict lung function decline.

Systemic Sclerosis; Interstitial Lung

S. Mittoo, M. Hudson, E. Lo, R. Steele, K. Wong, D. Robinson, Z. Bshouty and M. Baron, "Predicting Lung Function Decline with Serum Pneumoproteins: A Case Control Study," Open Journal of Rheumatology and Autoimmune Diseases, Vol. 4 No. 1, 2014, pp. 52-57. doi: 10.4236/ojra.2014.41008.