Objective:To investigate the clinical value of small pulmonary vessels parameters measured by chest CT in evaluating the classification of different types of pulmonary hypertension(PH)and the severity grading of connective tissue disease s - related pulmonary hypertension(CTD-PH). Methods:A retrospective analysis included 170 PH patients,including 60 CTD-PH patients,52 idiopathic PH(IPAH)patients,and 58 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - related PH(COPD - PH)patients,with 120 healthy controls(HC)included as controls. The ratio of the sum of the cross-sectional area(CSA)of small pulmonary vessels with CSA <5 mm2 (%CSA<5)and between 5 to 10 mm2( %CSA5- 10)to the total CSA of the lung measured by chest CT was compared among the four groups using one-way ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis test,followed by pairwise comparisons. Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve analysis was used to evaluate the performance of %CSA for differentiating mild to moderate CTD-PH(CTD-LM-PH)from severe CTD-PH(CTD-S-PH)patients,and calculate the area under the curve(AUC),sensitivity and specificity. Results:The %CSA<5 of the IPAH and COPD -PH groups were significantly lower compared to the HC group(P < 0.001). Additionally,the %CSA5 - 10 of the COPD -PH group showed a significant decline compared to the HC group(P=0.038),whereas the %CSA5-10 of the CTD-PH and IPAH groups was significantly high compared to the HC group(both P < 0.05). In comparisons between different types of PH groups,the %CSA<5 and % CSA5 - 10 of the CTD - PH group were higher than those of the COPD - PH group(P < 0.001). The % CSA5 - 10 of the IPAH group was significantly higher than that of the CTD -PH group(P=0.022),while there was no significant difference in the %CSA<5 between the IPAH and COPD-PH groups(P=0.833). The %CSA<5 of CTD-S-PH group was significantly lower than that of CTD-LM-PH group(P= 0.004). The ROC curve analysis showed that the optimal cutoff value for %CSA<5 to predict CTD -S -PH was 0.804,with an AUC of 0.710(95%CI:0.573-0.847),sensitivity of 0.714 and specificity of 0.320. Conclusion:The quantitative parameter %CSA assessed by chest CT can distinguish different types of PH. The %CSA<5 can serve as a reference for evaluating the severity of CTD-PH.