ACE Inhibitors May Raise Mortality Risk During Renal Crisis In Scleroderma Patients.

MedPage Today  (11/12, Walsh) reports, "Patients with scleroderma who were taking angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors when they developed a renal crisis had twice the mortality rate at one year compared with patients not receiving those drugs, a researcher reported" at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting. Investigators found that, "on an unadjusted analysis, the hazard ratio for death among patients who had previously used ACE inhibitors was 1.56 (CI 0.70 to 3.47) at 12 months post-crisis compared with non-users." However, "after adjustment for baseline prednisone dose, prior exposure to ACE inhibitors was associated with more than doubling of the risk of death within the year after the renal crisis (HR 2.42, 95% CI 1.02 to 5.75, P=0.046)."