Systemic sclerosis & Raynaud's
Longitudinal trajectories of the Scleroderma Health Assessment Questionnaire (Scleroderma HAQ (SHAQ)) visual analogue scales: a retrospective cohort study
Authors' conclusion
Longitudinal assessment of the six SHAQ VAS, and associations of baseline characteristics with the individual VAS time courses, provide insights into disease trajectory and overall disability.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with SSc attending a single tertiary centre, 2005–2022, with at least two time-pointsmean follow-up 6.8 (SD 4.2) years
- Participants
- 537 patients
- Outcome
- Trajectories over time of the six SHAQ VAS (pain, intestinal, breathing, RP, digital ulcers, overall)
Methodological detailssingle tertiary centre, data collected prospectively, linear mixed-effects models
- Single tertiary centre
- Data collected prospectively
- Linear mixed-effects models
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Visual analogue scales (VAS) intestinal increased (worsened) per year, points
0.085
95% CI 0.041–0.130P < 0.001
VAS breathing increased per year, points
0.056
95% CI 0.016–0.096P = 0.006
VAS overall increased per year, points
0.073
95% CI 0.032–0.114P = 0.001
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Associations of baseline factors with VAS trajectories
- Longer duration between RP onset and SSc diagnosis associated with lower VAS pain and VAS intestinal scores
- Odds of at least one digital ulcer reduced with disease duration, diffuse cutaneous subtype and anti-Scl70 positivity
Correlation of VAS gradients with HAQ Disability Index (HAQ-DI) and scleroderma functional index (FI) gradients
- Average gradients for all six VAS correlated (albeit variably/weakly) with HAQ-DI and scleroderma FI gradients
Original publication
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