Advances in nutritional status of patients with connective tissue-associated pulmonary hypertension

Abstract

Connective Tissue Disease (CTD) is an autoimmune disease involving connective tissues, including Sjogren syndrome (pSS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic sclerosis (SSc), mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), etc. [1,2]. Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) refers to a pathological condition in which the pulmonary artery pressure rises above a certain threshold, causing right heart failure and death [3]. PAH refers to the mean Pulmonary Artery Pressure (mPAP) of greater than 25 mmHg and the pulmonary wedge pressure (PAWP) of less than 15mmhg under right heart catheterization (RHC) at rest [4,5]. The only criterion for examining pulmonary hypertension is right cardiac catheterization. Connective tissue disease-associated pulmonary hypertension (CTD-PAH) is a rare complication of PAH, characterized by high mortality, venous and cardiac involvement and poor prognosis [6-8].