TY - JOUR T1 - Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Prevalence and Predictors JF - The Journal of Rheumatology JO - J Rheumatol SP - 323 LP - 329 DO - 10.3899/jrheum.150451 VL - 43 IS - 2 AU - Gregorio Miguel Pérez-Peñate AU - Iñigo Rúa-Figueroa AU - Gabriel Juliá-Serdá AU - Fernándo León-Marrero AU - Antonio García-Quintana AU - José Ramón Ortega-Trujillo AU - Celia Erausquin-Arruabarrena AU - Carlos Rodríguez-Lozano AU - Pedro Cabrera-Navarro AU - Nazario Ojeda-Betancor AU - Miguel Ángel Gómez-Sánchez Y1 - 2016/02/01 UR - http://www.jrheum.org/content/43/2/323.abstract N2 - Objective. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) prevalence has been reported to be between 0.5% and 17% in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This study assessed PAH prevalence and predictors in an SLE cohort.Methods. The Borg dyspnea scale, DLCO, N-terminal pro–brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), and Doppler echocardiographic (DE) were performed. An echocardiographic Doppler exercise test was conducted in selected patients. When DE systolic pulmonary arterial pressure was ≥ 45 mmHg or increased during exercise > 20 mmHg, a right heart catheterization was performed. Hemodynamic during exercise was measured if rest mean pulmonary arterial pressure was < 25 mmHg.Results. Of the 203 patients with SLE, 152 were included. The mean age was 44.9 ± 12.3 years, and 94% were women. Three patients had known PAH. The algorithm diagnosed 1 patient with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension and 5 with exercise-induced pulmonary artery pressure increase (4 with occult left diastolic dysfunction). These patients had significantly more dyspnea, higher NT-proBNP, and lower DLCO.Conclusion. These data confirm the low prevalence of PAH in SLE. In our cohort, occult left ventricular diastolic dysfunction was a frequent diagnosis of unexplained dyspnea. Dyspnea, DLCO, and NT-proBNP could be predictors of pulmonary hypertension in patients with SLE. ER -