Antinuclear antibodies and progression of quantitative interstitial lung changes: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)-Lung Study

Abstract

Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) are often found in ILD; whether ANA is associated with radiographic progression of quantitive interstitial lung changes is unknown. We performed longitudinal analyses of adults in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis using linear mixed effects models with random intercept and slope to evaluate whether baseline ANA was associated with change in the amount of lung with high attenuation areas on CT (HAAs, percentage of imaged lung with -600 to -250 HU). In 6,638 subjects with 17,293 CT scans over 18 years, 741 (11 %) were ANA positive. ANA was not associated with HAA progression with ANA as a dichotomous variable (0.13 % less progression per year for ANA positive vs negative, 95%CI -0.33 %-0.07 %, p = 0.19) or as a continuous variable (0.004 % less progression per year per 10 % increase in ANA, 95%CI -0.01 %-0.005 %, p = 0.37). ANA was not associated with progression of HAA in community dwelling adults.

Keywords: Antinuclear antibodies; Autoantibodies; High attenuation areas; Subclinical interstitial lung disease.