Patient-reported outcome instruments for assessing Raynaud's phenomenon in systemic sclerosis: A SCTC Vascular Working Group Report.

The episodic nature of Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) has led to a reliance on patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments such as the Raynaud's Condition Score (RCS) diary. Little is known about the utilisation in routine clinical practice and health professional attitudes towards existing PRO instruments for assessing SSc-RP. Members of the Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium Vascular Working Group (SCTC-VWG, n=28) were invited to participate in a survey gauging attitudes towards the RCS diary and the perceived need for novel PRO instruments for assessing SSc-RP. Nineteen SCTC-VWG members (68% response rate) from academic units based in North America (n=9), Europe (n=8), South America (n=1) and Australasia (n=1) took part in the survey. There was broad consensus that RCS diary returns could be influenced by factors including seasonal variation in weather, efforts made by patients to avoid or ameliorate attacks of RP, habituation to RP symptoms, evolution of RP symptom characteristics with progressive obliterative microangiopathy, patient coping strategies, respondent burden and placebo effect. There was consensus that limitations of the RCS diary might be a barrier to drug development (79% of respondents agree/strongly agree) and that a novel PRO instrument for assessing SSc-RP should be developed with the input of both clinicians and patients (84% agree/strongly agree). Perceived potential limitations of the RCS diary have been identified along with concerns that such factors might impede drug development programs for SSc-RP. There is support within the systemic sclerosis community for the development of a novel PRO instrument for assessing SSc-RP.