Incidence and predictors of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in Thai patients with early systemic sclerosis: Inception cohort study

Objectives: To determine and compare the prevalence of interstitial lung disease (ILD), the severity of high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) score and incidence rate (IR) of ILD between the two subsets of early-SSc (systemic sclerosis) patients. We also determined the factors associated with ILD.

Methods: We used an inception cohort of early-SSc patients seen between January 2010 and June 2014. All patients underwent HRCT at study entry and annually thereafter.

Results: One hundred and thirteen patients (66 females and 89 diffuse cutaneous SSc [dcSSc]) with a mean?±?SD age of 53.4?±?8.4 years and mean disease duration of 12.9?±?10.3 months at cohort entry were enrolled. At enrollment, patients with dcSSc had a higher prevalence of ILD (78.7% vs. 45.8%, p?=?0.002), and a higher total HRCT score (10.3?±?9.5 vs. 4.4?±?5.6, p?=?0.001) compared with limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc). DcSSc patients had a higher IR of ILD than lcSSc patients (58.8 vs.17.3 per 100 person-years, p?Conclusions: DcSSc patients had more severe HRCT scores and higher IR of ILD compared with lcSSc patients. Male gender, presence of anti-Scl 70, and absent anti-centromere antibody predicted the future development of ILD in early-SSc patients.