Let’s Define Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease

Lucy Masto, BS, is a clinical research assistant at the Hospital for Special Surgery, New York.

Medha Barbhaiya, MD, MPH, is a rheumatologist and clinical researcher at the Hospital for Special Surgery and Weill Cornell Medicine, New York.

Caroline H. Siegel, MD, MS, is a rheumatologist and clinical researcher at the Hospital for Special Surgery and Weill Cornell Medicine, New York.

Lisa R. Sammaritano, MD, is the director of the Rheumatology Reproductive Health Program at the Barbara Volcker Center for Women and Rheumatic Diseases, Hospital for Special Surgery, and professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York.

Michael D. Lockshin, MD, is director emeritus of the Barbara Volcker Center for Women and Rheumatic Diseases at the Hospital for Special Surgery, New York. He served as editor in chief of Arthritis & Rheumatism and has been recognized with national awards from the Arthritis Foundation, the ACR and the Lupus Foundation of America.

References

1. Leroy EC, Maricq HR, Kahaleh MB. Undifferentiated connective tissue syndromes. Arthritis Rheum. 1980 Mar;23(3):341–343.
2. Ugarte‐Gil MF, Alarcón GS. Incomplete systemic lupus erythematosus: Early diagnosis or overdiagnosis? Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2016 Mar;68(3):285–287.
3. Drehmel KR, Erickson AR, England BR, et al. Applying SLICC and ACR/EULAR systemic lupus erythematosus classification criteria in a cohort of patients with undifferentiated connective tissue disease. Lupus. 2021 Feb;30(2):280–284.
4. Antunes M, Scirè CA, Talarico R, et al. Undifferentiated connective tissue disease: State of the art on clinical practice guidelines. RMD Open. 2019 Feb;4(Suppl 1):e000786.
5. Sciascia S, Roccatello D, Radin M, et al. Differentiating between UCTD and early-stage SLE: From definitions to clinical approach. Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2022 Jan;18(1):9–21.
6. Mosca M, Neri R, Bombardieri S. Undifferentiated connective tissue diseases (UCTD): A review of the literature and a proposal for preliminary classification criteria. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 1999;17(5):615–620.
7. Marwa K, Anjum F. Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Apr 27.
8. Jia L, Levine AB, Lockshin MD. American College of Rheumatology criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus exclude half of all systemic lupus erythematosus patients. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2017 Jul;69(7):1502–1503.
9. Lockshin MD, Crow MK, Barbhaiya M. When a diagnosis has no name: Uncertainty and opportunity. ACR Open Rheumatol. 2022 Mar;4(3):197–201.
10. Siegel CH, Kleinman J, Barbhaiya M, et al. The psychosocial impact of undifferentiated connective tissue disease on patient health and well-being: A qualitative study. J Clin Rheumatol. 2022 Mar;28(2):e340–e347.
11. Mosca M, Tani C, Vagnani S, et al. The diagnosis and classification of undifferentiated connective tissue diseases. J Autoimmun. 2014 Feb–Mar;48–49:50–52.
12. Iudici M, Irace R, Riccardi A, et al. Longitudinal analysis of quality of life in patients with undifferentiated connective tissue diseases. Patient Relat Outcome Meas. 2017 Feb;8:7–13.
13. Rubio J, Kyttaris VC. Undifferentiated connective tissue disease: Comprehensive review. Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2023 May;25(5):98–106.
14. García-González M, Rodríguez-Lozano B, Bustabad S, et al. Undifferentiated connective tissue disease: Predictors of evolution into definite disease. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2017 Sep–Oct;35(5):739–745.
15. Dyball S, Rodziewicz M, Mendoza-Pinto C, et al. Predicting progression from undifferentiated connective tissue disease to definite connective tissue disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Autoimmun Rev. 2022 Nov;21(11):103184.
16. Siegel CH, Stamm B, Vega J, Lockshin MD, et al. Characteristics of patients diagnosed with undifferentiated connective tissue disease [AB0556]. Ann Rheum Dis. 2022;81(Suppl 1):1405.1–1405.
17. Lockshin MD, Crow MK, Barbhaiya M, eds. Diagnoses Without Names: Challenges for Medical Care, Research, and Policy. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing; 2022.