Associations of Digital Ulcers in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis: An 8-Year Retrospective Study

This study aimed to investigate the associations of digital ulcers (DUs) in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).

This retrospective study investigated the demographic characteristics, specific autoantibodies, organ involvement, and laboratory tests in patients with SSc from our hospital.

This study enrolled 144 patients with SSc. The DU+ group consisted of 15 (10.4%) patients. Patients with SSc having DUs have longer disease duration, higher fibrinogen, higher fibrin degradation product, and lower cholesterol. None of the patients used cholesterol-lowering drugs before onset of DUs. The study also demonstrated a higher prevalence of anti-dsDNA and anti-histone antibodies in patients with SSc with DUs. Anti-dsDNA antibody is a specific antibody for SLE with a specificity of 96-99%. A total of 86.1% (124/144) of patients suffered from diffuse cutaneous SSc, and 28.5% (41/144) of patients suffered from overlap syndrome.

Our study indicated that patients with SSc with fibrinogen of >2.895 g/L (p = 0.043) and cholesterol of <3.340 mmol/L (p = 0.036), which is equal to 129.258 mg/dL, are at high risk of developing DUs.