Cardiovascular Evaluation in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis in the Turkish Population

Cardiac involvement in systemic sclerosis (SSc) can lead to high morbidity and mortality. Therefore, early diagnosis and treatment are required. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical, laboratory, and echocardiographic features of SSc, evaluate the proportion of patients with cardiovascular disease, and compare them with other population-based studies in the Turkish population. This study included 150 patients who were previously diagnosed and treated in the rheumatology clinic. Their age, sex, clinical signs and symptoms, laboratory and echocardiography findings, and concomitant diseases were evaluated. The results showed that the disease duration was <1 year and, at most, 11 years, with only one patient having elevated pulmonary artery pressure. In addition, patients with SSc in our region had similar demographic, clinical, laboratory, and echocardiographic features with those in other countries. This study demonstrated that hypertension is positively correlated with disease duration and the incidence of pulmonary hypertension is very low in patients with SSc.