TY - JOUR
TI - Validation of the classification criteria for cryoglobulinaemic
vasculitis
AU - Quartuccio, Luca
AU - Isola, Miriam
AU - Corazza, Laura
AU - Ramos-Casals,
AU - Manuel
AU - Retamozo, Soledad
AU - Ragab, Gaafar Mohamed
AU - Zoheir,
AU - Mostafa Naguib
AU - El-Menyawi, Manal Abdel-Moneim
AU - Salem, Mohamed
AU - Nabil
AU - Sansonno, Domenico
AU - Ferraccioli, Gianfranco
AU - Gremese,
AU - Elisa
AU - Tzioufas, Athanasios
AU - Voulgarelis, Michael and
AU - Vassilopoulos, Dimitris
AU - Scarpato, Salvatore
AU - Pipitone, Nicolo and
AU - Salvarani, Carlo
AU - Guillevin, Loic
AU - Terrier, Benjamin
AU - Cacoub,
AU - Patrice
AU - Filippini, Davide
AU - Saccardo, Francesco
AU - Gabrielli,
AU - Armando
AU - Fraticelli, Paolo
AU - Sebastiani, Marco
AU - Tomsic, Matija
AU - and Tavoni, Antonio
AU - Mazzaro, Cesare
AU - Pioltelli, Pietro and
AU - Nishimoto, Norihiro
AU - Scaini, Patrizia
AU - Zignego, Anna Linda and
AU - Ferri, Clodoveo
AU - Monti, Giuseppe
AU - Pietrogrande, Maurizio and
AU - Bombardieri, Stefano
AU - Galli, Massimo
AU - De Vita, Salvatore
JO - Rheumatology (Bulgaria)
PY - 2014
VL - 53
TODO - 12
SP - 2209-2213
PB - Oxford University Press
SN - null
TODO - 10.1093/rheumatology/keu271
TODO - cryoglobulinaemia; hepatitis C; classification; vasculitis
TODO - Objective. The aim of this study was to validate the classification
criteria for cryoglobulinaemic vasculitis (CV).
Methods. Twenty-three centres were involved. New patients with CV (group
A) and controls, i.e. subjects with serum cryoglobulins but lacking CV
based on the gold standard of clinical judgment (group B) and subjects
without cryoglobulins but with clinical features that can be observed in
the course of CV (group C), were studied. Positivity of serum
cryoglobulins was necessary for CV classification. Sensitivity and
specificity of the criteria were calculated by comparing group A vs
group B. The group A vs group C comparison was done to demonstrate the
possible diagnostic utility of the criteria.
Results. The study included 268 patients in group A, 182 controls in
group B and 193 controls in group C (small vessel vasculitis, 51.8%).
The questionnaire (at least 2/3 positive answers) showed 89.0%
sensitivity and 93.4% specificity; the clinical item (at least 3/4
clinical involvement) showed 75.7% sensitivity and 89.0% specificity
and the laboratory item (at least 2/3 laboratory data) showed 80.2%
sensitivity and 62.4% specificity. The sensitivity and specificity of
the classification criteria (at least 2/3 positive items) were 89.9%
and 93.5%, respectively. The comparison of group A with group C
demonstrated the clinical utility of the criteria in differentiating CV
from CV mimickers.
Conclusion. Classification criteria for CV were validated in a second,
large, international study confirming good sensitivity and specificity
in a complex systemic disease.
ER -