Table 2 Demographic features of patients who were followed up during each of six 5‐year time periods.

	1972–6	1977–81	1982–6	1987–91	1992–6	1997–2001
At risk (n)	221	493	768	1153	1460	1508
Female sex (%)	79	80	82	82	81	83
Age (at onset of time period; years)	48*	50	51	51	52	55†
Disease duration at the beginning of the interval (years)	8.4	8.4	9.2	10.6	11.2	13.9†
SSc subtype
Diffuse SSc (%)	41	46	49	47	48	44
Deaths
All deaths, n (%)	42 (19)	105 (21)	148 (19)	211 (18)	289 (20)	314 (24)
Deaths due to SSc (% of all deaths)	70	68	58	53	57	50

SSc, systemic sclerosis.