title: Telangiectasia as a potential clinical marker of microvascular lesions in systemic sclerosis patients from EUSTAR data in China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the prevalence and clinical relevance of telangiectasia in Chinese patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from 230 SSc EUSTAR patients from Peking Union Medical College Hospital (2009-2011) that fulfilled the 1980 American College of Rheumatology SSc classification criteria were prospectively collected. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were calculated between groups with and without telangiectasia, and a six-minute walk test, pulmonary function test (PFT), transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), right heart catheterisation (RHC) and modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS) were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  96 patients (41.7%) were diagnosed with telangiectasia. There were no significant differences between patients with and without telangiectasia based on gender, age at onset, Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) duration, or SSc classification. Disease duration both from RP onset of patients and from first non-RP manifestation of patients with telangiectasia was significantly longer than patients without (p<0.05). RP (97.9% vs. 90.3%), finger/toe sclerosis (96.9% vs. 88.1%), facial sclerosis (68.8% vs. 53.7%), digital ulcers (DUs; 40.6% vs. 23.1%), digital pitting (49.0% vs. 33.8%), joint contracture (20.8% vs. 10.4%) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate elevation (26.7% vs. 14.8%) were significantly greater in telangiectasia patients (p<0.05). There were no differences in autoantibody development between patients with and without telangiectasia (p>0.05). PFT showed that forced vital capacity (77.0±17.26 vs. 83.05±16.53, p=0.005) and diffusion capacity for CO of the lung (58.9±19.4 vs. 65.7±19.7, p=0.030) were lower, while forced expiratory volume ratio (87.02±7.8 vs. 84.33±7.1, p=0.029) was higher in SSc with telangiectasia. Pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) prevalence (25.0% vs. 14.2%) was significantly greater in patients with telangiectasia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Telangiectasia are common in Chinese SSc patients and usually associated with DUs, RP, and PAH. Telangiectasia could be a clinical marker of microvascular disease in SSc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Shang-zhu
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Meng-tao
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhuang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yong-tai
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-xiao
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jin-zhi
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jiu-liang
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Chao-jun
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qiu-ning
authors.initials: QN
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Feng-chun
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China. zengxfpumc@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Xiao-feng
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Zeng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D055806:Microvessels / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012867:Skin / Q000098:blood supply*; D012883:Skin Ulcer / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D013684:Telangiectasis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D014664:Vasodilation