The inclusion of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide in a sensitive screening strategy for systemic sclerosis-related pulmonary arterial hypertension: a cohort study

Table 1 Results of non-invasive Australian Scleroderma Cohort Study (ASCS) screening investigations by diagnosis

	No PH (n = 22)	PH (n = 27)	PAH (n = 17)	ILD-PH (n = 6)	LHD-PH (n = 4)	Overall* (n = 49)
sPAP _TTE >40 mmHG	10	23	16	4	3	67.3%
DLCO <50% and FVC >85%	3	12	10	0	2	30.6%
Fall in DLCO <20% of previous year	0	1	0	0	1	2.0%
Unexplained dyspnoea**	9	2	0	2	0	22.4%
Low DLCO was only positive test	3	2	1	0	1	10.2%

*Patients who screened positive to one or more components of the ASCS screening algorithm; **patients were considered to have unexplained dypnoea when neither the TTE nor PFT satisfactorily explained a patient’s dyspnoea. PAH, pulmonary arterial hypertension; PH, pulmonary hypertension; ILD, interstitial lung disease; LHD, left heart disease; sPAP_TTE, systolic pulmonary artery pressure at echocardiography; DLCO, diffusion capacity of lung for carbon monoxide (% predicted); FVC, forced vital capacity (% predicted).

ISSN: 1478-6362