Table 1.
Patients’ characteristics
| n = 88 | |
|---|---|
| Age—years | |
| Median | 53 |
| Range | 22–88 |
| Sex—no. (%) | |
| Female | 66 (75) |
| Male | 22 (25) |
| SSc subtype—no. (%) | |
| Limited cutaneous SSc | 57 (65) |
| Diffuse cutaneous SSc | 31 (35) |
| Disease duration—years | |
| Median | 8 |
| Range | 0–40 |
| Erythrocyte sedimentation rate—mm/h | |
| Mean | 14 |
| Range | 0–94 |
| C-reactive protein—mg/dl | |
| Mean | 0.4 |
| Range | 0.01–2.52 |
| Serum gamma globulins—% | |
| Mean | 16 |
| Range | 9.4–38.3 |
| Auto-antibodies—no. (%) | |
| Anti-nuclear Ab | 82 (93) |
| Anti-Scl-70 | 39 (44) |
| Anti-centromere Ab | 24 (27) |
| Modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS) | |
| Mean | 8 |
| Range | 0–44 |
| Pretreatment—no. (%) | |
| Cyclophosphamide | 23 (26) |
| Rituximab | 2 (2) |
| Autologous stem cell transplantation | 6 (7) |
| Immunosuppressive therapy at blood draw—no. (%) | |
| None | 37 (42) |
| Prednisolone | 6 (7) |
| Cyclophosphamide | 5 (6) |
| Mycophenolate | 23 (26) |
| Azathioprine | 5 (6) |
| Methotrexate | 10 (11) |
| Others | 3 (3) |