Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of study subjects according to presence of GI disease (N = 556)
| Severe GI disease (n = 72) | No GI disease (n = 484) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) or mean (s.d.) | No. missing | n (%) or mean (s.d.) | No. missing | P-value | |
| Age, years | 53.2 (14.0) | 0 | 54.2 (12.8) | 1 | 0.533 |
| Female, % | 58 (80.6) | 0 | 391 (80.8) | 0 | 0.963 |
| White, % | 61 (89.7) | 4 | 399 (88.3) | 32 | 0.731 |
| Aboriginal, % | 2 (2.9) | 4 | 8 (1.8) | 32 | 0.627 |
| Post-secondary education, % | 28 (41.8) | 5 | 165 (39.4) | 65 | 0.708 |
| Employment status, % | 4 | 27 | 0.775 | ||
| Employed | 34 (50.0) | 237 (51.9) | |||
| Not employed | 15 (22.1) | 102 (22.3) | |||
| Disabled | 19 (27.9) | 118 (25.8) | |||
| Current smoker, % | 6 (8.8) | 4 | 52 (11.4) | 26 | 0.534 |
| Disease duration, years | 1.1 (0.5) | 0 | 1.1 (0.5) | 0 | 0.470 |
| BMI, kg/m2 | 25.3 (5.1) | 2 | 26.3 (5.8) | 29 | 0.226 |
| Diffuse disease, % | 47 (65.3) | 0 | 212 (43.8) | 0 | < 0.001 |
| mRSS (0–51) | 17.8 (12.3) | 0 | 12.3 (11.1) | 3 | < 0.001 |
| ILD, % | 22 (30.6) | 0 | 148 (31.3) | 11 | 0.900 |
| FVC, % predicted | 90.0 (21.5) | 4 | 93.2 (20.3) | 52 | 0.236 |
| Pulmonary hypertension, % | 5 (7.7) | 7 | 44 (11.8) | 111 | 0.333 |
| Digital ulcers, % | 25 (34.7) | 0 | 179 (37.1) | 2 | 0.692 |
| Telangiectasias, % | 45 (63.4) | 1 | 243 (51.2) | 9 | 0.054 |
| Inflammatory myositis, % | 10 (14.5) | 3 | 20 (4.5) | 42 | 0.003 |
| Inflammatory arthritis, % | 25 (39.7) | 9 | 119 (27.8) | 56 | 0.053 |
| Faecal incontinence, % | 9 (13.4) | 5 | 30 (6.9) | 47 | 0.061 |
| Autoantibodies, % | |||||
| ACA | 12 (21.1) | 15 | 137 (33.3) | 73 | 0.062 |
| Anti-topoisomerase I | 13 (22.8) | 15 | 87 (21.3) | 75 | 0.791 |
| Anti-RNA polymerase III | 13 (25.5) | 21 | 81 (22.9) | 130 | 0.680 |
| Severe GI disease, % | |||||
| Malabsorption | 42 (58.3) | 0 | |||
| Hyperalimentation | 14 (19.4) | 0 | |||
| Pseudo-obstruction | 20 (27.8) | 0 | |||
| SIBO or ES with ≥10% weight loss | 7 (9.7) | 0 | |||
| Death during follow-up | |||||
| Mortality, % | 14 (19.4) | 0 | 70 (14.5) | 0 | 0.271 |
| Cause of death | |||||
| Scleroderma-related | |||||
| PAH | 3 | 16 | |||
| ILD | 1 | 12 | |||
| Combined severe PAH and ILD | 1 | 4 | |||
| Scleroderma myocardial involvement | 1 | 2 | |||
| Renal failure due to scleroderma renal crisis | 2 | 7 | |||
| Scleroderma gut involvement | 3 | 6 | |||
| Not scleroderma-related | |||||
| Ischaemic heart disease | 0 | 2 | |||
| Cerebrovascular disease | 0 | 1 | |||
| Renal failure not due to scleroderma renal crisis | 0 | 1 | |||
| Malignancy | 2 | 10 | |||
| Other | 0 | 3 | |||
| Unknown | 1 | 6 | |||
GI: gastrointestinal; mRSS: modified Rodnan skin score; FVC: forced vital capacity; ILD: interstitial lung disease; SIBO: small intestinal bacterial overgrowth; ES: oesophageal stricture; PAH: pulmonary arterial hypertension.