Objectives: To determine whether cumulative endogenous estrogen exposure (CEEE) is associated with severity of microvascular damage or with presence of clinical characteristics in women with systemic sclerosis (SSc).
Methods: The population was composed of female SSc patients from the Leiden CCISS (combined care in SSc) cohort. Reproductive life history was investigated through structured questionnaires and CEEE was calculated with a mathematical equation. Demographic, laboratory and clinical characteristics were available for all patients. The most recent nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) was used to semiquantitatively score microangiopathy parameters.
Results: We included 97 patients, with a mean age of 59.6±14 years and a mean CEEE of 9±5.5 years. Ordinal logistic regression using CEEE as independent variable failed to demonstrate an association with loss (OR 1.05, 95% CI 0.97-1.14), dilated capillaries (OR 1.05, 95% CI 0.96-1.14), giants (OR 1.03, 95% CI 0.95-1.12) and ramifications (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.92-1.07). Binary logistic regression did not show an effect of CEEE on presence of scleroderma pattern vs. non-scleroderma pattern, (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.89-1.1) or of late scleroderma pattern vs. non-late patterns (OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.88-1.05) at NVC. Furthermore, no association was found between CEEE and presence of interstitial lung involvement (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.88-1.08) but a trend for occurrence of digital ulcers (OR 1.09, 95% CI 0.99-1.19) was observed.
Conclusions: In SSc patients, CEEE is not associated with the extent of microvascular derangement. No associations between CEEE and organ involvement were found.