Clinical Characteristics of Anti-Synthetase Syndrome and Variables Associated with Interstitial Lung Disease and Mortality: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Anti-synthetase syndrome (ASS) is a rare autoimmune disease. Since the knowledge of ASS remains limited, we conducted the retrospective study aiming to describe clinical characteristics and identify variables associated with interstitial lung disease (ILD) and mortality among patients with ASS. Patients diagnosed with ASS from January 2013 to October 2022 were included. Patient demographics, clinical manifestations, myositis auto-antibody profiles, HRCT findings, and laboratory tests were collected. Variables associated with mortality risk and ILD were evaluated using the Cox proportional hazards model and the logistic regression model, respectively. A total of 82 patients with ASS were included. Clinical manifestations included arthritis (57%), Raynaud’s phenomenon (32%), mechanic’s hands (29%), fever (26%), and myositis (17%). The myositis auto-antibody profiles included anti-PL-7 (29%), anti-Jo-1 (27%), anti-EJ (17%), anti-PL-12 (16%), and anti-OJ (11%). ILD was observed in 64 patients (78%). Among patients with ILD, 21 initially presented with ILD before developing other ASS clinical manifestations, 29 simultaneously presented with ILD and other symptoms, and 14 had isolated ILD throughout follow-up. Overall, 6 patients presented with rapid-progressive ILD. With a median follow-up time of 2.5 years, mortality was observed in 10 patients (12.2%). Factors associated with mortality included increased lymphocyte counts (adjusted HR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.61–0.91; p < 0.01), isolated ILD (adjusted HR, 9.59; 95% CI, 1.52–60.61; p = 0.02) and the presence of anti-Ro52 antibodies (adjusted HR, 0.14; 95% CI, 0.02–0.93; p = 0.04). Factors associated with ILD included age (adjusted OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.03–1.18; p = 0.01), presence of anti-Ro52 antibodies (adjusted OR, 17.92; 95% CI, 2.13–138.68; p = 0.01), and presence of arthritis (adjusted OR, 0.09; 95% CI, 0.01–0.75; p = 0.03). Our study demonstrated a favorable overall mortality rate among ASS patients.