Table 3

Interaction between d-penicillamine treatment and extent of skin involvement (diffuse/limited), duration of onset—first visit (over/under 10 years), duration of d-Pen treatment (over/under 3 years), or corticosteroid treatment. Results are p values

	Extent of skin involvement			Duration of onset— first visit			Duration of d-Pen treatment			Corcicosteroid therapy
	d-Pen	Diffuse/ limited	I	d-Pen	Duration	I	d-Pen	Duration	I	d-Pen	Corcicosteroid	I
d-Pen, d-penicillamine; I, interaction; %VC, percentage vital capacity; %Tlco, percentage carbon monooxidase transfer factor; CT, computed tomograpy.
*p<0.05 using Student’s t test.
Changes in %VC levels	0.70	0.16	0.56	0.61	0.91	0.64	0.69	0.77	0.49	0.53	0.14	0.39
Changes in %Tlco levels	0.77	0.06	0.30	0.83	0.55	0.95	0.69	0.70	0.22	0.77	0.40	0.63
Patients with over 5% reduction of %VC levels	0.17	0.05*	0.64	0.38	0.62	0.67	0.77	0.90	0.18	0.87	0.65	0.53
Patients with over 5% reduction of %Tlco levels	0.95	0.25	0.18	0.69	0.46	0.63	0.64	0.28	0.64	0.77	0.72	0.56
Patietns with progression of alveolitis or fibrosis in chest CT	0.43	0.63	0.21	0.28	0.83	0.61	0.94	0.42	0.07	0.82	0.25	0.94
Patietns with progression of alveolitis or fibrosis in chest x ray	0.69	0.69	0.22	0.56	0.79	0.49	0.70	0.20	0.17	0.74	0.46	0.27