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Volume 34, Issue 4, December 2023



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Mediterr J Rheumatol 2020;31(3):341-9
Association of Musculoskeletal and Radiological Features with Clinical and Serological Findings in Systemic Sclerosis: A Single-Centre Registry Study
Authors Information

1. Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran

2. Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

3. Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Aim: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic connective tissue disease with the clinical hallmark of skin thickening and tethering. Correlation of musculoskeletal features with other parameters should be considered in SSc patients. Methods: We reviewed the records of all patients who had more than one visit and standard anteroposterior radiography of hand. We used univariate analysis, and factors with pResults: Overall, 180 SSc patients were enrolled in our study, 161 (89.4%) of whom were women. Median age (IQR) was 47.0 years (16), and 52% had diffuse subtype of the disease. In multivariate analysis, tendon friction rubs (TFRs) was associated with the presence of calcinosis, muscle tenderness, and flexion contracture (FC) on physical examination (p<0.05). Arthritis showed no differences in the two subtypes of the disease (p=0.98), and in multivariate analysis, there were no correlations between radiographic arthritis and serological and clinical features. The radiographic results indicated that disease duration correlated with joint erosion, acro-osteolysis, resorption of distal ulna, calcinosis and radiologic FC (p< 0.05). Acro-osteolysis was more frequent in the dcSSc subtype, TFRs, and anti-TOPO I antibody. Radiologic FC showed association with skin score, calcinosis and haematocrit <30% (p<0.05). Joint flexion on radiography was associated with disease duration, modified Rodnan skin score, calcinosis, and low haematocrit (P<0.01).  Conclusion: Disease duration was a main dependent factor for developing joint erosion, acro-osteolysis, bone resorption, calcinosis, and flexion contracture on hand radiography. Acro-osteolysis presented in the severe form of the disease. Acro-osteolysis was the only dependent variable associated with bone demineralization.

Article Submitted: 29 Jan 2020; Revised Form: 29 July 2020; Article Accepted: 15 Aug 2020; Available Online: 30 Sep 2020

https://doi.org/10.31138/mjr.31.3.341

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

©Azarbani N, Javadzadeh A, Mohseni I, Jalali A, Andalib E, Poormoghim H.