RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Nailfold capillary morphological characteristics of hand-arm vibration syndrome: a cross-sectional study
JF BMJ Open
JO BMJ Open
FD British Medical Journal Publishing Group
SP e012983
DO 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012983
VO 6
IS 11
A1 Chen, QingSong
A1 Chen, GuiPing
A1 Xiao, Bin
A1 Lin, HanSheng
A1 Qu, HongYing
A1 Zhang, DanYing
A1 Shi, MaoGong
A1 Lang, Li
A1 Yang, Bei
A1 Yan, MaoSheng
YR 2016
UL http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/11/e012983.abstract
AB Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of nailfold capillaroscopy associated with hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).Methods In total, 113 male gold miners were recruited: 35 workers who were chronically exposed to vibration and developed vibration-induced white finger were defined as the HAVS group, 39 workers who were exposed to vibration but did not have HAVS were classified as the vibration-exposed controls (VEC) group, and 39 workers without vibration exposure were categorised as the non-VEC (NVEC) group. Video capillaroscopy was used to capture images of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers of both hands. The following nailfold capillary characteristics were included: number of capillaries/mm, avascular areas, haemorrhages and enlarged capillaries. The experiments were carried out in the same winter. All characteristics were evaluated under blinded conditions.Results Significant differences in all morphological characteristics existed between the groups (p<0.05). Avascular areas in the HAVS, VEC and NVEC groups appeared in 74.3%, 43.6% and 25.0% of participants, respectively. A higher percentage of participants had haemorrhages in the HAVS group (65.7%) compared with the other groups (VEC: 7.7% and NVEC: 7.5%). The number of capillaries/mm, input limb width, output limb width, apical width, and ratio of output limb and input limb all had more than 70% sensitivity or specificity of their cut-off value.Conclusions Nailfold capillary characteristics, especially the number of capillaries/mm, avascular areas, haemorrhages, output limb width, input limb width and apical width alterations, revealed significant associations with HAVS.