TY - JOUR T1 - Lung Function and Survival in Systemic Sclerosis Interstitial Lung Disease JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 2326 LP - 2328 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.140156 VL - 41 IS - 11 AU - SAMAR SHADLY AHMED AU - SINDHU R. JOHNSON AU - CHRISTOPHER MEANEY AU - CATHY CHAU AU - THEODORE K. MARRAS Y1 - 2014/11/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/41/11/2326.abstract N2 - To the Editor:Systemic sclerosis (SSc)-associated interstitial lung disease (ILD) affects 40% of patients with SSc and leads to reduced survival, even with mild disease1. Among patients with SSc-ILD, reductions in forced vital capacity (FVC) and DLCO predict mortality, with threshold percent-predicted FVC values of < 70%2,3 and < 55%4, and DLCO values ≤ 60%5 and ≤ 70%6 identified as predictors of poor outcome. We sought to assess for threshold values of baseline FVC and DLCO that are associated with survival in SSc-ILD.Our study was approved by the University Health Network (REB number 11-0001-AE) and Mount Sinai Hospital (REB number 11-0003-C) research ethics boards, with requirement for informed consent waived. Adult patients were identified from our Scleroderma and ILD clinics (1983–2012) if they fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification criteria for SSc7 and had findings of ILD on thoracic computerized tomography. Pulmonary function tests (PFT) were routinely performed. The primary outcome was death or lung transplantation (last determined May 2012) from clinic or hospital records, or obituary8. Survival was defined as time from ILD diagnosis to death/transplantation, right censored from last … Address correspondence to Dr. T.K. Marras, Toronto Western Hospital, 7E-452, 399 Bathurst St., Toronto, Ontario M5T 2S8, Canada.E-mail: Ted.Marras{at}uhn.ca ER -