Patient-reported symptoms predict gastrointestinal disease activity in systemic sclerosis

Patient-reported symptoms of gastrointestinal tract (GIT) disease appear useful in establishing disease activity when objective measures for GIT disease activity in systemic sclerosis (SSc) are lacking, suggests a recent study.

The authors recruited 143 participants from the Australian Scleroderma Cohort Study and used logistic regression analysis to assess the relationship between patient-reported and physician-assessed GIT disease status and symptoms, measures of health-related quality of life (36-item Short Form Health Survey [SF-36]), and GIT disease activity, measured by the Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium UCLA Gastrointestinal Tract 2.0 (GIT 2.0) score.

Worsening of GIT symptoms as reported by the patients in the month prior to assessment significantly correlated with more severe GIT disease (odds ratio [OR], 6.14; p<0.01) and progressive worsening GIT disease severity as measured by the GIT 2.0 score (OR, 45.98; p<0.01). The only symptom associated with patient-reported GIT disease activity was the new onset of reflux (OR, 2.98; p=0.04).

No significant association was observed between physician-assessed GIT disease activity and higher GIT 2.0 scores or increased disease severity. In addition, patient-reported and physician-assessed GIT activity showed no associations with SF-36 scores.

“In the absence of objective measures of GIT disease activity in SSc, patient-reported symptoms of GIT disease could be used to indicate disease activity and should merit consideration for inclusion in a multisystem disease activity index,” the authors said.