Table 1.
Characteristics of SSc patients categorised on cohort-entry year
| 2010–2013 N=229 |
2014–2017 N=207 |
2018–2021 N=207 |
P value | |
| Age, mean (SD) | 53 (15) | 57 (14) | 55 (14) | 0.004 |
| Female | 195 (85) | 157 (76) | 157 (76) | 0.021 |
| RP duration, months, median (IQR) | 120 (44–240) | 93 (20–202) | 68 (21–210) | 0.010 |
| Non-RP duration, months, median (IQR) | 46 (16–127) | 20 (5–112) | 17 (6–55) | <0.001 |
| Time since diagnosis, months, median (IQR) | 22 (5–99) | 9 (1–51) | 4 (0–18) | <0.001 |
| Fulfilling ARA 1980 criteria for SSc | 181 (79) | 152 (73) | 155 (75) | 0.360 |
| Anticentromere antibodies | 88 (38) | 87 (42) | 100 (49) | 0.091 |
| Antitopoisomerase antibodies | 53 (23) | 49 (24) | 36 (18) | 0.248 |
| Disease subset: | 0.160 | |||
| Non-cutaneous | 43 (19) | 50 (24) | 43 (21) | |
| Limited cutaneous | 144 (62) | 109 (53) | 130 (63) | |
| Diffuse cutaneous | 42 (18) | 48 (23) | 34 (16) | |
| Pulmonary arterial hypertension | 8 (4) | 5 (2) | 6 (3) | 0.801 |
| Cardiac involvement | 11 (5) | 12 (6) | 25 (12) | 0.008 |
| Interstitial lung disease on HRCT | 99 (43) | 65 (31) | 64 (31) | 0.033 |
| Interstitial lung disease on HRCT and FVC <80% | 27 (12) | 20 (10) | 12 (6) | 0.092 |
| Gastrointestinal involvement | 56 (25) | 55 (27) | 46 (22) | 0.588 |
| Renal crisis | 5 (2) | 3 (1) | 5 (3) | 0.570 |
| Musculoskeletal involvement | 40 (18) | 42 (20) | 28 (14) | 0.185 |
| Digital ulcers | 45 (20) | 26 (13) | 23 (12) | 0.036 |
All binary variables are presented as numbers with percentages.
ARA, American Rheumatism Association; FVC, forced vital capacity; HRCT, high-resolution CT; ILD, interstitial lung disease; N, number; RP, Raynaud’s phenomenon; SSc, systemic sclerosis.