Antiphospholipid syndrome in northwest Italy (APS Piedmont Cohort): demographic features, risk factors, clinical and laboratory profile
M T Bertero, M Bazzan, R Carignola, B Montaruli, E Silvestro, S Sciascia, A Vaccarino, S Baldovino, D Roccatello, Antiphospholipid Piedmont Consortium, Osvaldo Giachino, Fabio Marletto, Luisa Sosso, Luca Marozio, Valeria Data, Giuseppe Guida, Patrizia Bigo, Stefania Stella, Cristiana Rollino, Michela Ferro, Loredana Colla, Eirini Karvela, Raffaele Pellerito, Emanuela Bellis, Aldo Maina, Valentina Donvito, Barbara Nicolino, Piercarla Schinco, Piera Sivera, Anna Kuzenko, Emanuela Napolitano, Domenico Cosseddu, Cristiana Marchese, Nicoletta Romeo, Giulia Seminara, Erato Maria Stefanidou, Filippo Molinari, Laura Contino, Roberto Santi, Maria Gabriella Nallino, Roberta Calvi, Piero Stratta, Agata Bizzocchi, Flavio Bobbio, Pier Paolo Sainaghi, Daniele Sola, M T Bertero, M Bazzan, R Carignola, B Montaruli, E Silvestro, S Sciascia, A Vaccarino, S Baldovino, D Roccatello, Antiphospholipid Piedmont Consortium, Osvaldo Giachino, Fabio Marletto, Luisa Sosso, Luca Marozio, Valeria Data, Giuseppe Guida, Patrizia Bigo, Stefania Stella, Cristiana Rollino, Michela Ferro, Loredana Colla, Eirini Karvela, Raffaele Pellerito, Emanuela Bellis, Aldo Maina, Valentina Donvito, Barbara Nicolino, Piercarla Schinco, Piera Sivera, Anna Kuzenko, Emanuela Napolitano, Domenico Cosseddu, Cristiana Marchese, Nicoletta Romeo, Giulia Seminara, Erato Maria Stefanidou, Filippo Molinari, Laura Contino, Roberto Santi, Maria Gabriella Nallino, Roberta Calvi, Piero Stratta, Agata Bizzocchi, Flavio Bobbio, Pier Paolo Sainaghi, Daniele Sola
Abstract
We report the experience from the Antiphospholipid Antibodies (aPL) Regional Consortium in northwest Italy, meant to support clinical research and foster collaboration among health professionals regarding the diagnosis and management of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) patients. This cohort-study (APS Piedmont Cohort) was designed to register the clinical characteristics at inception and associated immunological manifestations at diagnosis (if any) of patients who strictly fulfilled the current criteria for APS, all recruited at the Piedmont and Valle d'Aosta regions. Clinical and laboratory data from 217 APS patients (171 with vascular events, 33 with pregnancy morbidity and 13 with both), from 16 centres within the geographical area were collected. Venous thrombosis was recorded in 45.6% of patients, arterial thrombosis in 35%, small-vessel thrombosis in 1.12% and mixed arterial and venous thrombosis in the remaining 19.4% of the cases. Pregnancy morbidity included 19 patients with unexplained fetal death beyond the 10th week of pregnancy, 17 with premature birth before the 34th week and 10 with three or more unexplained spontaneous abortions before the 10th week of gestation. This consortium represents an instrument by which to audit clinical practice, to provide counselling to local centres and to sustain future basic and clinical APS research.
Source: PubMed