Table 1.
Characteristics of participating systemic sclerosis patients (N = 59)
| Sociodemographic characteristics | |
| Age, years, median (interquartile range) | 65 (55–70) |
| Female, N (%) | 52 (88%) |
| Caucasian origin, N (%) | 48 (81%) |
| Smoking | |
| Currently, N (%) | 3 (5%) |
| Past, N (%) | 29 (49%) |
| Body mass index, kg/m2, mean (SD)a | 25 (4) |
| Disease characteristics | |
| Type of systemic sclerosis, diffuse, N (%) | 15 (25%) |
| Duration of Raynaud’s phenomenon, years, median (interquartile range) | 12 (6–22) |
| Duration of non-Raynaud’s phenomenon, years, median (interquartile range) | 6 (3–16) |
| Disease duration, years, median (interquartile range) | 4 (2–15) |
| Modified Rodnan Skin Score, median (interquartile range) | 3 (0–6) |
| Proximal muscular weakness or synovitis, N (%) | 6 (10%) |
| Joint contractures or atrophy, N (%) | 11 (19%) |
| Gastrointestinal involvement, N (%)b | 41 (76%) |
| Immunotherapy, current or past, N (%) | 38 (64%) |
| Anti-Scl-70, N (%) | 9 (15%) |
| Anti-centromere, N (%) | 29 (49%) |
| RNA polymerase III, N (%) | 3 (5%) |
| 6 min walking distance: total distance, mean (SD) | 511 (84) |
| Decrease in DLCO% of predicted, N (%)a | 35 (60%) |
| Interstitial lung disease according HRCT, N (%) | 26 (45%) |
| Pulmonary arterial hypertension, N (%) | 6 (11%) |
| Decreased ejection fraction, N (%) | 7 (13%) |
| Arrhythmia | 24 (46%) |
| Scleroderma health assessment questionnaire, median (interquartile range) | 0.75 (0.25–1.125) |
aDLCO: diffuse capacity for carbon monoxide. A reduced DLCO was defined as < 70
bGastrointestinal involvement was defined as the presence of one of the following symptoms: reflux, early satiety, vomiting, diarrhoea, intestinal distension, constipation, faecal incontinence, parenteral nutrition or dysphagia