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The aim of the present study is to investigate the association between micro- and macrovascular involvement in the setting of SSc.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Consecutive, consenting SSc patients were assessed by nailfold video-capillaroscopy (NVC) to evaluate the microcirculation. The number of capillaries per mm<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup> and the capillaroscopic skin ulcer risk index (CSURI) were measured, and findings were also classified into three scleroderma patterns (i.e., early, active, and late). Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), aortic augmentation index corrected for a heart rate of 75 beats per minute (AIx-75), carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), and central systolic and diastolic blood pressure were also determined to assess macrovascular function.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>A total of 37 patients were studied. A significant correlation was observed between AIx and the average number of capillaries per mm<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup> (<jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u2009\u2212\u20090.34, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.047) and between AIx and CSURI (<jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.35, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.044). Patients with the \u201cearly\u201d scleroderma pattern had lower AIx values compared with \u201cactive\u201d (20.5\u2009\u00b1\u200911.4 vs 34.1\u2009\u00b1\u200911.5%, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.02) and \u201clate\u201d (20.5\u2009\u00b1\u200911.4 vs 33.4\u2009\u00b1\u20098.8%, <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.05) patterns. No other significant correlations were found between macrovascular biomarkers (PWV, carotid IMT, systolic and diastolic central blood pressure) and the capillaroscopic measurements.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n<jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>These data suggest that arterial stiffness (as assessed by AIx-75) correlates with microvascular damage in patients with SSc.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s13075-019-2051-3","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,12,16]],"date-time":"2019-12-16T15:04:23Z","timestamp":1576508663000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":24,"title":["Arterial stiffness correlates with progressive nailfold capillary microscopic changes in systemic sclerosis: results from a cross-sectional study"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Stergios","family":"Soulaidopoulos","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eleni","family":"Pagkopoulou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Niki","family":"Katsiki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eva","family":"Triantafyllidou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Asterios","family":"Karagiannis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alexandros","family":"Garyfallos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"George D.","family":"Kitas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0364-1642","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Theodoros","family":"Dimitroulas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,11,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"2051_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1685","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(17)30933-9","volume":"390","author":"CP Denton","year":"2017","unstructured":"Denton CP, Khanna D. 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