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Occupational exposure in patients with the antisynthetase syndrome

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Abstract

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is common in patients with myositis and is related with the presence of antisynthetase autoantibodies (aSA). Together with other manifestations, the resulting condition is known as the antisynthetase syndrome (ASS). Contact with certain environmental and occupational agents is also associated with the development of ILD. The objective of this study was to analyze occupational exposure and associated clinical manifestations in a cohort of patients with ASS. aSA had been identified by line immunoassay and confirmed by immunoprecipitation. Serial pulmonary function tests had been carried out to assess lung function. Thirty-two ASS patients and a control group of 32 myositis patients without aSA underwent a specific questionnaire interview to evaluate their cumulative exposure to biological dust, mineral dust, and gases/fumes up to disease onset. Comparisons were done with the Fisher exact test and Mann–Whitney test. Out from 32 ASS patients (median age, 42.7 yeras; IQR 32.2–52.5), twenty-six patients had anti-Jo-1, three anti-PL-12, and three anti-PL-7. Nine had polymyositis, 15 dermatomyositis, one amyopathic dermatomyositis, and seven pure ILD without myositis. Sixteen ASS patients (50 %) and seven (22 %) myositis patients without aSA had ever been highly exposed to dust, gases, or fumes (p < 0.05). A more than 10 % improvement in forced vital capacity occurred in 61 % of highly exposed patients and 23 % of those with low/no exposure (p = 0.06) over the observation period. In conclusion, a high percentage of patients with ASS had been exposed to dusts, gases, or fumes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Hans Kromhout and Roel Vermeulen (IRAS, Utrecht University, The Netherlands) for use of their ALOHA job exposure matrix. We are also in debt to Luis Gallego for his kind assistance in interviewing the control patients.

Funding

This study was funded in part by a grant (FIS/2012 PI12-01320) from the Spanish Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs.

Disclosures

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Internal Medicine Department, Vall d’Hebrón General Hospital, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, C/Siracusa N° 12 Bis “A”, Barcelona, 08012, Spain

    Ane Labirua-Iturburu, Albert Selva-O’Callaghan & Miquel Vilardell-Tarrés

  2. Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL), Barcelona, Spain

    Jan-Paul Zock

  3. Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain

    Jan-Paul Zock

  4. CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain

    Jan-Paul Zock

  5. Pneumology Service, Vall d’Hebron General Hospital, Barcelona, Spain

    Ramon Orriols

  6. Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Vall d’Hebrón General Hospital, Barcelona, Spain

    Xavier Martínez-Gómez

  7. CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Palma de Mallorca, Spain

    Ramon Orriols

Authors
  1. Ane Labirua-Iturburu
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  2. Albert Selva-O’Callaghan
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  3. Jan-Paul Zock
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  5. Xavier Martínez-Gómez
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  6. Miquel Vilardell-Tarrés
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Correspondence to Albert Selva-O’Callaghan.

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Labirua-Iturburu, A., Selva-O’Callaghan, A., Zock, JP. et al. Occupational exposure in patients with the antisynthetase syndrome. Clin Rheumatol 33, 221–225 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-013-2467-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-013-2467-0

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