@article {P{\'e}rez-Pe{\~n}atejrheum.150451, author = {Gregorio Miguel P{\'e}rez-Pe{\~n}ate and I{\~n}igo R{\'u}a-Figueroa and Gabriel Juli{\'a}-Serd{\'a} and Fern{\'a}ndo Le{\'o}n-Marrero and Antonio Garc{\'\i}a-Quintana and Jos{\'e} Ram{\'o}n Ortega-Trujillo and Celia Erausquin-Arruabarrena and Carlos Rodr{\'\i}guez-Lozano and Pedro Cabrera-Navarro and Nazario Ojeda-Betancor and Miguel {\'A}ngel G{\'o}mez-S{\'a}nchez}, title = {Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Prevalence and Predictors}, elocation-id = {jrheum.150451}, year = {2015}, doi = {10.3899/jrheum.150451}, publisher = {The Journal of Rheumatology}, abstract = {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{\textendash}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 {\textpm} 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.}, issn = {0315-162X}, URL = {https://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2015/12/08/jrheum.150451}, eprint = {https://www.jrheum.org/content/early/2015/12/08/jrheum.150451.full.pdf}, journal = {The Journal of Rheumatology} }