title: Anti-nuclear antibodies as predictor of outcome in a multi-center cohort of Italian children and adolescents with Raynaud's phenomenon.
abstract: A retrospective multi-center data collection of clinical, laboratory, and treatment characteristics of 94 Caucasian children and adolescents with Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) started at a mean age of 12.8 ± 5 years, with variable involvement of hands, feet, and face, was performed for a period of 3 years. Collected data included nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC), lung function tests, and different laboratory tests finalized to characterize an eventual connective tissue disease (CTD), disclosed by RP itself. Twelve patients presented an early-scleroderma pattern at NVC, 1 a late-scleroderma pattern, and 58 a nonspecific pattern. Laboratory data results showed the positivity of anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) in 29 % of patients. After this 3-year period of observation, 8 patients had developed a CTD. Our data examined by multivariate analysis, though limited to a multi-center cohort of pediatric patients with RP, strongly suggest that ANA positivity is a significant predictor of progression of RP towards a CTD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine and Department of Biomedicine, Division of Rheumatology AOUC & Transition Clinic, University of Florence, Viale Pieraccini 18, 50139, Florence, Italy, falcini@unifi.it.
authors.forename: Fernanda
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Falcini
authors.forename: Donato
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rigante
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Candelli
authors.forename: Giorgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Martini
authors.forename: Fabrizia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Corona
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petaccia
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: La Torre
authors.forename: Carmela G L
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Raffaele
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matucci Cerinic
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear / Q000097:blood*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003240:Connective Tissue Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011928:Raynaud Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear