Subject systemic sclerosis

In June of 1994, a population-based retrospective cohort study was published which examined the risk of a variety of connective tissue diseases and other disorders after breast implantation [65]. In this study, all women in Olmsted County, Minnesota who received a breast implant between 1 January 1964 and 31 December 1991 (the case subjects) were studied. For each case subject, two women of the same age (within three years) from the same population who had not received a breast implant and who underwent a medical evaluation within two years of the date of the implantation in the case subject were selected as control subjects. Each woman s complete inpatient and outpatient medical records were interviewed for the occurrence of various connective tissue diseases (i.e., rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjogren s syndrome, dermatomyositis, polymyositis, systemic sclerosis, ankylosing spondylitis. 

In a recent report of an analysis of 28 men suffering from systemic sclerosis collated over a 25-year period, 21 (75%) were suspected to be associated with occupational scleroderma. The exposures were revealed by patients files, reports to health authorities and interviews and/or answers to questionnaires. The most frequent chemical exposure was to organic solvents. This was found in 13 of the patients (46%). A significant difference was found between scleroderma patients and control patients not suffering from connective tissue diseases in relation to total number of subjects exposed to one or several of the agents in question (Zachariae et al. 1997). 

Skin Recent reports of cutaneous adverse reactions to statins have included phototoxicity attributed to simvastatin and pravastatin [77]. A study with 20 subjects with type 1 diabetes and dyslipidemia implicated a risk for deterioration of endothelium-dependent skin microvascular fxmction during high-dose atorvastatin (80mg/d) therapy [78]. In contrast, a study with 28 subjects with systemic sclerosis found that rosuvastatin (20mg/d) therapy was associated to the improvement of endothelial fxmction [79]. 

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