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Updated: Jul 12, 2025

Imaging Features of Systemic Sclerosis-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease
Published on: June 16, 2020
Systemic sclerosis and risk of bronchiectasis: a nationwide longitudinal cohort study
Bumhee Yang1, Bo-Guen Kim2, Kyungdo Han3
1Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju, Republic of Korea.
Background:
The association between systemic sclerosis and the development of bronchiectasis is unclear. This study aimed to compare the risk of bronchiectasis between individuals with systemic sclerosis and those without using a nationwide longitudinal dataset.
Methods:
Using the Korean National Health Insurance Service dataset between 2010 and 2017, we identified 4845 individuals aged ≥ 20 years with systemic sclerosis and 24,225 without systemic sclerosis who were matched 1:5 by age and sex. They were followed up until the date of a bronchiectasis diagnosis, death, or December 31, 2019, whichever came first.
Results:
During a median follow-up period of 6.0 (interquartile range, 3.2-8.7) years, 5.3% of the systemic sclerosis cohort and 1.9% of the matched cohort developed bronchiectasis, with incidence rates of 9.99 and 3.23 per 1000 person-years, respectively. Even after adjusting for potential confounders, the risk of incident bronchiectasis was significantly higher in the systemic sclerosis cohort than in the matched cohort (adjusted hazard ratio 2.63, 95% confidence interval 2.22-3.12). A subgroup analysis of individuals with systemic sclerosis revealed that the risk of incident bronchiectasis was notably higher in younger individuals aged 20-39 years (P for interaction = 0.048) and in those without other coexisting connective tissue diseases (P for interaction = 0.006) than in their counterparts.
Conclusions:
The risk of incident bronchiectasis is higher in individuals with systemic sclerosis than those without. Bronchiectasis should be considered one of the pulmonary manifestations related to systemic sclerosis.
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