The relationship between changes in self-reported disability (measured by the Health Assessment Questionnaire - HAQ) in scleroderma and improvement of disease status in clinical practice.

Objectives: To determine if a low Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI) score predicts subsequent improvement over the next one to two years in clinical practice and if a low HAQ is predictive of improvement in early, late, diffuse and limited SSc subsets.

Methods: HAQs collected at one site annually were used to determine serial relationships in low baseline HAQ and improvement in overall status over the following one to two years. Data were divided into early (< or =3 years) and late, and then further into limited and diffuse SSc subgroups.