PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Christopher P Denton
AU  - Thomas Krieg
AU  - Loic Guillevin
AU  - Barbara Schwierin
AU  - Daniel Rosenberg
AU  - Mariabeth Silkey
AU  - Maurice Zultak
AU  - Marco Matucci-Cerinic
TI  - Demographic, clinical and antibody characteristics of patients with digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: data from the DUO Registry
AID  - 10.1136/annrheumdis-2011-200631
DP  - 2012 May 01
TA  - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
PG  - 718--721
VI  - 71
IP  - 5
4099  - http://ard.bmj.com/content/71/5/718.short
4100  - http://ard.bmj.com/content/71/5/718.full
SO  - Ann Rheum Dis2012 May 01; 71
AB  - Objectives The Digital Ulcers Outcome (DUO) Registry was designed to describe the clinical and antibody characteristics, disease course and outcomes of patients with digital ulcers associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Methods The DUO Registry is a European, prospective, multicentre, observational, registry of SSc patients with ongoing digital ulcer disease, irrespective of treatment regimen. Data collected included demographics, SSc duration, SSc subset, internal organ manifestations, autoantibodies, previous and ongoing interventions and complications related to digital ulcers. Results Up to 19 November 2010 a total of 2439 patients had enrolled into the registry. Most were classified as either limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc; 52.2%) or diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc; 36.9%). Digital ulcers developed earlier in patients with dcSSc compared with lcSSc. Almost all patients (95.7%) tested positive for antinuclear antibodies, 45.2% for anti-scleroderma-70 and 43.6% for anticentromere antibodies (ACA). The first digital ulcer in the anti-scleroderma-70-positive patient cohort occurred approximately 5 years earlier than the ACA-positive patient group. Conclusions This study provides data from a large cohort of SSc patients with a history of digital ulcers. The early occurrence and high frequency of digital ulcer complications are especially seen in patients with dcSSc and/or anti-scleroderma-70 antibodies.