Finger blood pressure and rewarming rate for screening and diagnosis of Raynaud's phenomenon in workers exposed to vibration

Abstract

Both the finger systolic blood pressure (FSP) and the rewarming test of finger skin are measures of circulation in the finger; the first reflects the vasoconstriction phase and the second the vasodilatation phase. The combinations of the specificity and the sensitivity of these methods were evaluated by a receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). The material included 37 vibration-induced white finger (VWF) cases, five primary Raynaud's cases, and 37 controls. The specificity of the FSP test was high with regard to the anamnesis of white finger and the test was useful for the diagnosis of Raynaud's phenomenon, but the sensitivity was too low for screening. The rewarming test was useful for screening primary Raynaud's cases and possibly for screening disorders in the peripheral vasodilatative function. The connections between the rewarming test and VWF are not clear and according to the present study the rewarming test was not suitable for screening VWF.