title: Performance of the preliminary classification criteria for cryoglobulinaemic vasculitis and clinical manifestations in hepatitis C virus-unrelated cryoglobulinaemic vasculitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cryoglobulinaemic vasculitis (CV) is often related to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, but it can develop in other diseases (e.g. other infections, connective tissue diseases, malignancies) in the absence of HCV infection. A comparison of the performance of the recently published classification criteria for the CV was made between HCV-positive and HCV negative patients with serum cryoglobulins.
  
  
  METHODS
  500 patients with serum cryoglobulins were studied. Their mean age was 60.77±13.75 years, they were 356 females (71.2%) and 144 males (28.8%). CV was diagnosed in 272 patients (54.4%), while other diseases associated with serum cryoglobulins without CV (CwV) were diagnosed in 228 patients (45.6%).
  
  
  RESULTS
  117 HCV negative patients were collected (23.4%) and they were 42/272 (15.4%) among the CV group, while they were 75/228 (32.9%) among the CwV. In HCV negative patients the sensitivity and specificity of the classification criteria of CV were 89.5% CI 95% [79.5-99.5] and 90.3% CI 95% [82.8-97.8], respectively, while in HCV positive patients they were 88.3% CI 95% [83.6%-93.1%] and 96.1% CI 95% [91.8-100], respectively. The most frequent disease recognised among the HCV negative patients was Sjögren's syndrome (SS) (55/117, 47.0%), and the sensitivity and the specificity of the CV classification criteria were 88.9% CI 95% [76.5-100] and 91.3% CI 95% [79.2-100], respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The classification criteria for CV showed a good performance even in HCV-unrelated patients. A slightly lower specificity was observed for the classification of HCV-unrelated CV, since some clinical manifestations included in the clinical item for the classification criteria occurred more frequently in HCV-negative rather than HCV-positive controls with CWV.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Rheumatology, DSMB, University Hospital "Santa Maria della Misericordia", Udine, Italy. quartuccio.luca@aoud.sanita.fvg.it
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Quartuccio
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Isola
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Corazza
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maset
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Monti
authors.forename: Armando
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gabrielli
authors.forename: Athanasios G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Tzioufas
authors.forename: Clodoveo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferri
authors.forename: Gianfranco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferraccioli
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ramos-Casals
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Voulgarelis
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lenzi
authors.forename: Maria Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Mascia
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sansonno
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cacoub
authors.forename: Matjia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomsic
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tavoni
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pietrogrande
authors.forename: Anna Linda
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Zignego
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scarpato
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pioltelli
authors.forename: Sergi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Steinfeld
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lamprecht
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Galli
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bombardieri
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Vita
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003449:Cryoglobulinemia / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D003450:Cryoglobulins / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D056647:Systemic Vasculitis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D003450:Cryoglobulins