Simplified risk stratification for pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with connective tissue disease

To explore the long-term prognostic value of a simplified risk assessment strategy based on the 2015 European Society of Cardiology (ESC)/European Respiratory Society (ERS) pulmonary hypertension (PH) guidelines in Chinese patients with connective tissue disease (CTD) associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

We identified 50 CTD-PAH patients diagnosed by right heart catheterization. A retrospective chart review was completed to assess their clinical presentation and laboratory test results. A simplified version of the risk stratification model proposed by the 2015 ESC/ERS PH guidelines was applied, which included the WHO functional class, the 6-minute walking distance test, N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide plasma levels, pericardial effusion, right atrial pressure (RAP), cardiac index (CI), and mixed venous oxygen saturation (SvO₂). The risk grades were defined as follows: low risk = at least 3 low-risk variables and no high-risk variables; high risk = at least 2 high-risk variables, including SvO₂ or CI; and intermediate risk = when the above definitions of low or high risk were not fulfilled. The study endpoint was 3-year all-cause mortality.

Twenty patients were defined as a low-risk group, while 30 were classified into a combined intermediate-high-risk group at the baseline assessment. All 20 patients in the low-risk group remained in the low-risk group at follow-up, 20 patients in the intermediate-high-risk group were downgraded to the low-risk group, and eight patients remained in the intermediate-high-risk group at the follow-up assessment. Patients in the intermediate-high-risk group exhibited higher 3-year mortality than the low-risk group at baseline (26% vs 14%, P = 0.0384). Compared with patients who remained in the intermediate-high-risk group, patients who were downgraded to the low-risk group showed lower 3-year mortality (P = 0.0281).

A simplified risk stratification model based on the 2015 ESC/ERS PH guidelines helped to identify CTD-PAH patients with poor long-term  prognosis , which was useful in evaluating the severity and treatment response of patients with CTD-PAH.