Ethnic disparities among patients with pulmonary hypertension associated with systemic sclerosis.

Objective: To examine a cohort of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and pulmonary hypertension (PH) for ethnic disparities in clinical presentation, disease detection, or management.

Methods: Encounters of patients with SSc seen at the Medical University of South Carolina were recorded in a computerized database from November 1997 through January 2004. Patients were evaluated for discrepancy in disease manifestation and treatment.

Racial variation in clinical and immunological manifestations of systemic sclerosis.

Objective: To clarify which racial differences in disease manifestations can be attributed to differences in other factors such as gender, education, disease classification, and disease duration.

Methods: The study included white and black patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) treated at a university hospital rheumatology clinic between November 1997 and April 2003. Demographic, clinical, and immunological measurements were obtained on each subject.

Demographic and clinical factors associated with in-hospital death among patients with systemic sclerosis.

Objective: To examine demographic and clinical predictors of in-hospital death of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and determine to what extent apparent racial differences may be attributed to socioeconomic factors.

Methods: Data were obtained on all hospitalizations in South Carolina for patients who were ever hospitalized between 1996 and 2000 with a diagnosis of SSc. Multiple logistic regression was used to examine predictors of in-hospital death among whites, blacks, and other patients.

Correlates of depression, including overall and gastrointestinal functional status, among patients with systemic sclerosis.

Objective: Patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) may develop psychological problems in addition to physiologic symptoms. We investigated whether demographic and clinical factors are associated with comorbid depression.

Methods: From a university hospital's rheumatology clinic, 72 SSc patients who completed 3 questionnaires [Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale, an abbreviated version of a functional status instrument, the Scleroderma Health Assessment Questionnaire (SHAQ), and the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI)] during an examination were recruited into the study.