van den Hombergh et al reported a prediction rule for identifying patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis. This can help to identify a patient who may require more aggressive management. The authors are from Radboud University in Nijmegen and Hospital 12 de Octubre in Madrid.
Patient selection: systemic sclerosis
Parameters:
(1) sex
(2) time after Raynaud's phenomenon for non-Raynaud symptom, in months
(3) sclerodactyly
(4) anti-centromere antibodies (ACA)
(5) anti-topoisomerase-1 antibodies (ATA)
(6) anti-RNP antibodies
Parameter
Finding
Points
sex
female
0
male
0.5
time between symptoms
< 3 months
1
>= 3 months
0
sclerodactyly
no
0
yes
1
ACA
no
0
yes
-2.5
ATA
no
0
yes
1
anti-RNP
no
0
yes
-1.5
total score =
= SUM(points for all of the parameters)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: -4
• maximum score: 3.5
• A score >= 2.5 indicates diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc).
• A score <= -1 indicates lcSSc
Score
Probability of dcSSc
>= 1
70%
>= 2
84%
>= 3
95%
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