Predicting outcomes in systemic sclerosis by skin involvement and autoantibodies.

Abstract

The Article by Muriel Elhai and colleagues in The Lancet Rheumatology reports important data from the international European Scleroderma Trials and Research (EUSTAR) database.1 The authors assessed whether stratification by systemic sclerosis-specific autoantibodies could predict poor outcomes in systemic sclerosis compared with stratifying by the extent of skin involvement using LeRoy's subsets of limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis, diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis, or sine scleroderma,2 or by using both the extent of skin involvement and autoantibodies.