Local sympathetic stimulation not only have local effects in patients with Raynaud's phenomenon

Many other organs and system can be affected in the course of Primary Raynaud's Phenomenon (RP). Simultaneously increased vasospasm in the pulmonary vascular bed may likely affect the pulmonary function. Therefore, we investigated the effect of Raynaud's phenomenon on the respiratory functions in this study.

Between March 2014 and December 2014, 30 patients with the diagnosis of PRP more than two years and 32 age-sex matched healthy controls were enrolled into this study. Cold stimulation test (CST) was performed. Pulmonary function test were performed following 30 minutes after CST and spirometric measurements were calculated.

There were no statistically significant differences between two groups regarding their demographic and clinical data. Mean duration of symptoms from onset to present was 3.01 ± 1.05 years. Patients with Primary RP had significantly lower FVC and higher FEV1/FVC values compared to the control groups (p = 0.015 and p=0.045, respectively).

We found that statistically significant decrease of FVC values in patients with Primary RP compared to the healthy controls could be a impaired innervation of pulmonary system and a predictor of pulmonary vasospasm and/or pulmonary Raynaud's phenomenon, which may develop in future periods.