The Performance of Pulmonary Function Tests in Predicting Systemic Sclerosis-Interstitial Lung Disease in the European Scleroderma Trial and Research Database.

We suggest that an impaired baseline DLCO may be predictive of the appearance of ILD after 2 years of follow-up. This result advances the hypothesis that a reduction in gas exchange may be considered an early sign of lung involvement. However, further rigorous studies are warranted to understand the predictive role of DLCO evaluation in the course of SSc.