Exercise echocardiography for the assessment of pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis: a systematic review

Table 1 Main characteristics of studies and patients

First author	Publication year	Condition	Sample size	Female gender (%)	Age (years)	Mean time since diagnosis	Enrolment criteria
Mininni [25]	1996	SSc	9	78 %	56	27 m	Consecutive
Alkotob [17]	2006	SSc	65	86 %	51	---	Consecutive
Collins^a[21]	2006	DSSc	9	100 %	59	---	Consecutive
Collins^b[21]	2006	LSSc	10	100 %	52	---	Consecutive
Pignone [26]	2007	LSSc	27	89 %	50	7 y	Consecutive
Huez [24]	2007	SSc	8	92 %	54	16 m	Consecutive
Callejas-Rubio [29]	2008	SSc	41	--	53	9 y	Consecutive
Steen [27]	2008	SSc	54	94 %	53	---	At high risk of PH^d
Reichenberger [8]	2009	SSc	33	94 %	54	9 y	Consecutive
D’Alto [22]	2010	SSc	172	90 %	52	---	Consecutive
Ciurzynski [20]	2011	SSc	67	96 %	57	---	Consecutive
Baptista [18]	2013	SSc	23	96 %	58	---	Consecutive
Gargani [23]	2013	SSc	164	91 %	58	11 y	Consecutive
Voilliot [29]	2014	SSc	45	76 %	54	---	Consecutive
Suzuki [28]	2014	SSc	494	89 %	56	---	Consecutive
Nagel^c[30]	2015	SSc	21	84 %	58	12 y	Consecutive

Quantitative variables (age) reported as means. Female and male patients represented by counts. ^aResults for patients with diffuse systemic sclerosis (DSSc). ^bRresults for patients with limited systemic sclerosis (LSSc). ^cResults are for the full population studied (including patients unaware of having pulmonary hypertension). ^dDyspnea on exertion, carbon monoxide diffusion capacity (DL_CO) <60 % of predicted, forced vital capacity (FVC) <60 % of predicted, FVC %/DLCO % >1.6, or resting right ventricular systolic pressure on echocardiogram >30 mmHg but <50 mmHg. m months, SSc systemic sclerosis, y years

ISSN: 1478-6362