Journal List > J Rheum Dis > v.25(3) > 1099061

Jung, Lee, Kim, Choi, Lee, Yoon, Kang, and Suh: Pulmonary Hypertension in Connective Tissue Disease is Associated with the New York Heart Association Functional Class and Forced Vital Capacity, But Not with Interstitial Lung Disease

Abstract

Objective

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) develops frequently in connective tissue diseases (CTD) and is an important prognostic factor. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of PH in patients with CTD by non-invasive echocardiography and analyze the potential biomarkers for helping to detect PH.

Methods

All Korean patients with CTD who had dyspnea on exertion or interstitial lung disease (ILD) were screened for PH with echocardiography and clinical data were collected from four hospitals.

Results

Among 196 patients with CTD, 108 (55.1%) had ILD and 21 had PH defined as >40 mmHg. Of the 21 patients with PH, 10, 4, and 3 patients had systemic sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and mixed connective tissue disease, respectively. There was no difference in the incidence of PH according to the presence of ILD; 12 patients (11.1%) with ILD had PH and 9 patients (10.2%) without ILD had PH. The results of the pulmonary function test, total cholesterol, red cell volume distribution width, alkaline phosphatase, and the New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class III or IV differed significantly according to the presence of PH. In multiple regression analysis, NYHA functional class III or IV (odd ratio [OR]=7.3, p=0.009) and forced vital capacity (OR=0.97, p=0.043) were independent predictive factors of PH.

Conclusion

PH is not associated with the presence of ILD in Korean patients with CTD. On the other hand, NYHA functional class III or IV and decreased forced vital capacity indicate the presence of PH in connective tissue disease.

REFERENCES

1. Khanna D, Gladue H, Channick R, Chung L, Distler O, Furst DE, et al. Recommendations for screening and detection of connective tissue disease-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension. Arthritis Rheum. 2013; 65:3194–201.
crossref
2. Task Force for Diagnosis and Treatment of Pulmonary Hypertension of European Society of Cardiology (ESC); European Respiratory Society (ERS); International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT). Galiè N, Hoeper MM, Humbert M, et al. Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension. Eur Respir J. 2009; 34:1219–63.
3. Chung L, Liu J, Parsons L, Hassoun PM, McGoon M, Badesch DB, et al. Characterization of connective tissue disease-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension from REVEAL: identifying systemic sclerosis as a unique phenotype. Chest. 2010; 138:1383–94.
4. Shahane A. Pulmonary hypertension in rheumatic diseases: epidemiology and pathogenesis. Rheumatol Int. 2013; 33:1655–67.
crossref
5. Vachiéry JL, Coghlan G. Screening for pulmonary arterial hypertension in systemic sclerosis. Eur Respir Rev. 2009; 18:162–9.
crossref
6. Zangiabadi A, De Pasquale CG, Sajkov D. Pulmonary hypertension and right heart dysfunction in chronic lung disease. Biomed Res Int. 2014; 2014; 739674.
crossref
7. Launay D, Sobanski V, Hachulla E, Humbert M. Pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis: different phenotypes. Eur Respir Rev. 2017; 26:170056.
crossref
8. Launay D, Mouthon L, Hachulla E, Pagnoux C, de Groote P, Remy-Jardin M, et al. Prevalence and characteristics of moderate to severe pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis with and without interstitial lung disease. J Rheumatol. 2007; 34:1005–11.
9. Trad S, Amoura Z, Beigelman C, Haroche J, Costedoat N, Boutin le TH, et al. Pulmonary arterial hypertension is a major mortality factor in diffuse systemic sclerosis, independent of interstitial lung disease. Arthritis Rheum. 2006; 54:184–91.
crossref
10. Ahmed S, Palevsky HI. Pulmonary arterial hypertension related to connective tissue disease: a review. Rheum Dis Clin North Am. 2014; 40:103–24.
11. Galiè N, Manes A, Negro L, Palazzini M, Bacchi-Reggiani ML, Branzi A. A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials in pulmonary arterial hypertension. Eur Heart J. 2009; 30:394–403.
12. Barst RJ, McGoon M, Torbicki A, Sitbon O, Krowka MJ, Olschewski H, et al. Diagnosis and differential assessment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2004; 43(12 Suppl S):40S–7S.
crossref
13. Er F, Ederer S, Nia AM, Caglayan E, Dahlem KM, Semmo N, et al. Accuracy of Doppler-echocardiographic mean pulmonary artery pressure for diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension. PLoS One. 2010; 5:e15670.
crossref
14. Gladue H, Altorok N, Townsend W, McLaughlin V, Khanna D. Screening and diagnostic modalities for connective tissue disease-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension: a systematic review. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2014; 43:536–41.
crossref
15. McLaughlin VV, Archer SL, Badesch DB, Barst RJ, Farber HW, Lindner JR, et al. ACCF/AHA 2009 expert consensus document on pulmonary hypertension a report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation Task Force on Expert Consensus Documents and the American Heart Association developed in collaboration with the American College of Chest Physicians; American Thoracic Society, Inc.; and the Pulmonary Hypertension Association. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2009; 53:1573–619.
16. Avouac J, Huscher D, Furst DE, Opitz CF, Distler O, Allanore Y. EPOSS group. Expert consensus for performing right heart catheterisation for suspected pulmonary arterial hypertension in systemic sclerosis: a Delphi consensus study with cluster analysis. Ann Rheum Dis. 2014; 73:191–7.
crossref
17. Khanna D, Tan M, Furst DE, Hill NS, McLaughlin VV, Silver RM, et al. Recognition of pulmonary hypertension in the rheumatology community: lessons from a Quality Enhancement Research Initiative. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2014; 32(6 Suppl 86):S–21-7.
18. Jeon CH, Chai JY, Seo YI, Jun JB, Koh EM, Lee SK. pulmonary hypertension study group of Korean College of Rheumatology. Pulmonary hypertension associated with rheumatic diseases: baseline characteristics from the Korean registry. Int J Rheum Dis. 2012; 15:e80–9.
crossref
19. Kang KY, Jeon CH, Choi SJ, Yoon BY, Choi CB, Lee CH, et al. Survival and prognostic factors in patients with connective tissue disease-associated pulmonary hypertension diagnosed by echocardiography: results from a Korean nationwide registry. Int J Rheum Dis. 2017; 20:1227–36.
crossref
20. Gopal DM, Doldt B, Finch K, Simms RW, Farber HW, Gokce N. Relation of novel echocardiographic measures to invasive hemodynamic assessment in scleroderma-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2014; 66:1386–94.
crossref
21. Hachulla E, Clerson P, Airò P, Cuomo G, Allanore Y, Caramaschi P, et al. Value of systolic pulmonary arterial pressure as a prognostic factor of death in the systemic sclerosis EUSTAR population. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2015; 54:1262–9.
crossref
22. van den Hoogen F, Khanna D, Fransen J, Johnson SR, Baron M, Tyndall A, et al. 2013 classification criteria for systemic sclerosis: an American College of Rheumatology/European League against Rheumatism collaborative initiative. Arthritis Rheum. 2013; 65:2737–47.
crossref
23. Petri M, Orbai AM, Alarcón GS, Gordon C, Merrill JT, Fortin PR, et al. Derivation and validation of the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum. 2012; 64:2677–86.
24. Aletaha D, Neogi T, Silman AJ, Funovits J, Felson DT, Bingham CO 3rd, et al. 2010 Rheumatoid arthritis classification criteria: an American College of Rheumatology/ European League Against Rheumatism collaborative initiative. Arthritis Rheum. 2010; 62:2569–81.
25. Fisher MR, Forfia PR, Chamera E, Housten-Harris T, Champion HC, Girgis RE, et al. Accuracy of Doppler echocardiography in the hemodynamic assessment of pulmonary hypertension. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2009; 179:615–21.
crossref
26. Hsu VM, Chung L, Hummers LK, Wigley F, Simms R, Bolster M, et al. Development of pulmonary hypertension in a high-risk population with systemic sclerosis in the Pulmonary Hypertension Assessment and Recognition of Outcomes in Scleroderma (PHAROS) cohort study. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2014; 44:55–62.
crossref
27. Frea S, Capriolo M, Marra WG, Cannillo M, Fusaro E, Libertucci D, et al. Echo Doppler predictors of pulmonary artery hypertension in patients with systemic sclerosis. Echocardiography. 2011; 28:860–9.
crossref
28. Hübbe-Tena C, Gallegos-Nava S, Márquez-Velasco R, Castillo-Martínez D, Vargas-Barrón J, Sandoval J, et al. Pulmonary hypertension in systemic lupus erythematosus: echocardiography-based definitions predict 6-year survival. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2014; 53:1256–63.
crossref
29. Schwaiger JP, Khanna D, Gerry Coghlan J. Screening patients with scleroderma for pulmonary arterial hypertension and implications for other at-risk populations. Eur Respir Rev. 2013; 22:515–25.
crossref
30. Prabu A, Gordon C. Pulmonary arterial hypertension in SLE: what do we know? Lupus. 2013; 22:1274–85.
crossref
31. Hao YJ, Jiang X, Zhou W, Wang Y, Gao L, Wang Y, et al. Connective tissue disease-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension in Chinese patients. Eur Respir J. 2014; 44:963–72.
crossref
32. Gonzalez-Juanatey C, Testa A, Garcia-Castelo A, Garcia-Porrua C, Llorca J, Ollier WE, et al. Echocardiographic and Doppler findings in long-term treated rheumatoid arthritis patients without clinically evident cardiovascular disease. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2004; 33:231–8.
33. Pellegrino R, Viegi G, Brusasco V, Crapo RO, Burgos F, Casaburi R, et al. Interpretative strategies for lung function tests. Eur Respir J. 2005; 26:948–68.
34. Sun XG, Hansen JE, Oudiz RJ, Wasserman K. Pulmonary function in primary pulmonary hypertension. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2003; 41:1028–35.
crossref
35. Taichman DB, McGoon MD, Harhay MO, Archer-Chicko C, Sager JS, Murugappan M, et al. Wide variation in clinicians' assessment of New York Heart Association/World Health Organization functional class in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension. Mayo Clin Proc. 2009; 84:586–92.
crossref
36. Benza RL, Miller DP, Gomberg-Maitland M, Frantz RP, Foreman AJ, Coffey CS, et al. Predicting survival in pulmonary arterial hypertension: insights from the Registry to Evaluate Early and Long-Term Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Disease Management (REVEAL). Circulation. 2010; 122:164–72.
37. Barst RJ, Chung L, Zamanian RT, Turner M, McGoon MD. Functional class improvement and 3-year survival outcomes in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension in the REVEAL Registry. Chest. 2013; 144:160–8.
crossref
38. Felker GM, Allen LA, Pocock SJ, Shaw LK, McMurray JJ, Pfeffer MA, et al. Red cell distribution width as a novel prognostic marker in heart failure: data from the CHARM Program and the Duke Databank. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2007; 50:40–7.
39. Hampole CV, Mehrotra AK, Thenappan T, Gomberg-Maitland M, Shah SJ. Usefulness of red cell distribution width as a prognostic marker in pulmonary hypertension. Am J Cardiol. 2009; 104:868–72.
40. Lau GT, Tan HC, Kritharides L. Type of liver dysfunction in heart failure and its relation to the severity of tricuspid regurgitation. Am J Cardiol. 2002; 90:1405–9.
crossref

Figure 1.
Receiver operating characteristic to predict pulmonary hypertension by echocardiography in connective tissue disease. The area under curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic by final model with New York Heart Association functional class III or IV and forced vital capacity was 0.767.
jrd-25-179f1.tif
Table 1.
The clinical characteristics of patients (n=196)
Clinical factor Value
Age (yr) 54.8±14.7
Gender, female:male 150:46
Disease duration (mo) 43.2±52.8
Interstitial lung disease 108 (55.1)
Disease
Systemic sclerosis 62 (31.6)
Rheumatoid arthritis 54 (27.6)
Systemic lupus erythematosus 43 (21.9)
Myositis 16 (8.2)
Mixed connective tissue disease 7 (3.6)
Others 14 (7.1)
NYHA functional class
I 75 (38.3)
II 105 (53.6)
III 15 (7.7)
IV 1 (0.5)
Mortality 4 (2.0)
Echocardiographic finding
TRV (m/s) 2.49±0.43
PASP (mmHg) 30.5±9.8
PFT finding (%)
DLCO 67.4±22.4
FVC 82.9±21.7
FEV1 87.0±23.2
FVC/DLCO 1.32±0.34
Laboratory finding
RDW (%) 14.4±2.1
AST (U/L) 33.8±51.4
ALT (U/L) 25.8±42.2
Total cholesterol (mg/dL) 177.1±44.4
ALP (U/L) 69.7±31.7
Uric acid (mg/dL) 4.5±1.4
Medication
Corticosteroid 135 (68.9)
Hydroxychloroquine 77 (39.3)
Azathioprine 37 (18.9)
Methotrexate 32 (16.3)
Penicillamine 13 (6.6)
Bucillamine 27 (13.8)
Sulfasalazine 14 (7.1)
Tacrolimus 26 (13.3)
Cyclophosphamide 20 (10.2)
Calcium channel blocker 34 (17.3)
Endothelial receptor antagonist 9 (4.6)
Prostacyclin analogues 6 (3.1)

Values are presented as mean±standard deviation, number only or number (%).

NYHA: New York Heart Association, TRV: tricuspid regurgitation velocity, PASP: pulmonary artery systolic pressure, PFT: pulmonary function test, DLCO: lung diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide, FVC: forced vital capacity, FEV1: forced expired volume in one second, RDW: red cell volume distribution width, AST: aspartate aminotransferase, ALT: alanine aminotransferase, ALP: alkaline phosphatase.

Table 2.
The comparison of the patients with ILD and those without
Clinical factor ILD (n=108) No ILD (n=88) p-value
Age (yr) 55.7±14.3 53.8±15.1 0.302
Gender, female:male 81:26 69:20 0.706
NYHA functional class III/IV, n (%) 9 (8.3) 7 (8.0) 0.848
Echocardiographic finding
TRV (m/s) 2.5±0.4 2.5±0.4 0.808
PASP (mmHg) 30.8±9.6 30.1±10.1 0.455
PFT finding (%)
DLCO 60.7±21.2 (92*) 75.5±21.3 (79*) <0.001
FVC 73.9±19.6 (96*) 93.5±19.2 (82*) <0.001
FEV1 79.5±5.46 (96*) 95.7±22.3 (82*) <0.001
FVC/DLCO 1.3±0.4 (91*) 1.3±0.3 (78*) 0.346
Laboratory finding
RDW (%) 14.2±1.8 (107*) 14.6±2.4 (88*) 0.215
AST (U/L) 36.6±65.2 (107*) 30.5±26.4 (88*) 0.913
ALT (U/L) 28.5±55.5 (107*) 22.6±14.9 (88*) 0.160
Total cholesterol (mg/dL) 175.3±38.7 (101*) 179.1±50.1 (88*) 0.552
ALP (U/L) 108.5±87.9 (102*) 105.5±93.8 (88*) 0.481
Uric acid (mg/dL) 4.5±1.5 (97*) 4.6±1.3 (85*) 0.895

Values are presented as mean±standard deviation, number only or number (%).

ILD: interstitial lung disease, NYHA: New York Heart Association, TRV: tricuspid regurgitation velocity, PASP: pulmonary artery systolic pressure, PFT: pulmonary function test, DLCO: lung diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide, FVC: forced vital capacity, FEV1: forced expired volume in one second, RDW: red cell volume distribution width, AST: aspartate aminotransferase, ALT: alanine aminotransferase, ALP: alkaline phosphatase.

* The number of patients tested.

Table 3.
The prevalence of increased PASP according to ILD pattern in CTD
ILD pattern Total (n=108) PH (n=12)
Usual interstitial pneumonia 42 5 (11.9)
Nonspecific interstitial pneumonia 36 5 (13.9)
Undifferentiated interstitial lung disease 21 1 (4.8)
Bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia 9 1 (11.1)

Values are presented as number only or number (%).

PASP: pulmonary artery systolic pressure, ILD: interstitial lung disease, CTD: connective tissue disease, PH: pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary artery systolic pressure >40 mmHg.

Table 4.
The clinical characteristics in the patients with PAH
Variable PAH (n=21) No PAH (n=175) p-value
Age (yr) 56.6±19.8 54.6±14.0 0.567
Gender, female:male 19:3 131:43 0.295
Disease duration (mo) 37±43.7 42.9±51.6 0.908
Presence of ILD Disease 12 (54.5) 96 (55.2) 0.843
SSc 10 (16.1) 52 (83.9)  
RA 2 (3.7) 52 (96.3)  
SLE 4 (9.3) 39 (90.7)  
MCTD 3 (42.9) 4 (57.1)  
NYHA functional class III/IV 8 (36.4) 8 (4.6) <0.001
Echocardiography data TRV (m/s) 3.4±0.3 2.38±0.2 <0.001
PASP (mmHg) 52.2±10.5 27.8±5.6 <0.001
PFT data (%)
DLCO 60.6±24.1 (13*) 68.1±22.1 (158*) 0.246
FVC 63.2±28.3 (18*) 85.1±19.8 (160*) <0.001
FEV1 68.7±34.4 (18*) 89.1±20.9 (160*) 0.024
FVC/DLCO 1.3±0.3 (14*) 1.3±0.4 (155*) 0.948
Laboratory data
RDW (%) 15.1±3.1 14.2±1.8 0.041
AST (U/L) 32.0±18.7 34.0±54.0 0.736
ALT (U/L) 18.9±12.8 26.6±44.4 0.432
Total cholesterol (mg/dL) 147.7±40.1 (17*) 179.9±43.7 (172*) 0.004
ALP (U/L) 87.5±35.5 (20*) 67.9±30.7 (171*) 0.027
Uric acid (mg/dL) 5.0±1.9 (19*) 4.4±1.2 (163*) 0.105

Values are presented as mean±standard deviation, number only or number (%).

PAH: pulmonary arterial hypertension, ILD: interstitial lung disease, SSc: systemic sclerosis, RA: rheumatoid arthritis, SLE: systemic lupus erythematosus, MCTD: mixed connective tissue disease, NYHA: New York Heart Association, TRV: tricuspid regurgitation velocity, PASP: pulmonary artery systolic pressure, PFT: pulmonary function test, DLCO: lung diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide, FVC: forced vital capacity, FEV1: forced expired volume in one second, RDW: red cell volume distribution width, AST: aspartate aminotransferase, ALT: alanine aminotransferase, ALP: alkaline phosphatase. Pulmonary hypertension: pulmonary artery systolic pressure >40 mmHg.

* The number of patients tested.

Table 5.
The logistic regression analysis for PAH in connective tissue disease
Variable Univariate Multivariate
OR (95% CI) p-value OR (95% CI) p-value
NYHA functional class 9.22 (2.98, 28.5) <0.001 7.3 (1.7, 32.12) 0.009
FVC 0.95 (0.93, 0.98) <0.001 0.97 (0.94, 1.0) 0.043
FEV1 0.96 (0.94, 0.98) 0.001 1.01 (0.94, 1.07) 0.846
RDW 1.23 (1.03, 1.46) 0.019 1.05 (0.58, 2.0) 0.780
Total cholesterol 0.98 (0.96, 0.99) 0.004 0.99 (0.97, 1.00) 0.125
ALP 1.01 (1.00, 1.03) 0.016 1.01 (1.00, 1.03) 0.062

PAH: pulmonary arterial hypertension, OR: odds ratio, CI: confidence interval, NYHA: New York Heart Association, FVC: forced vital capacity, FEV1: forced expired volume in one second, RDW: red cell volume distribution width, ALP: alkaline phosphatase.

TOOLS
Similar articles