SSc patients perceive dyspnoea, pain, digital ulcers, muscle weakness and gastrointestinal symptoms as the main factors driving their level of disability, unlike physicians who emphasize objective measures of disability.

No abstract

RDW in SSc may represent an integrative measure of multiple pathological processes including extensive vasculopathy, fibrosis or ongoing inflammation. An increase in RDW may indicate an impairment of cardiorespiratory function.

All four disease activity composite indices were found to be valid measures for assessing arthritis in SSc. DAS28-ESR showed the best performance regarding reliability and construct validity.