Table 1.
Demographics and clinical characteristics of the study patients
| RA | SLE | SSc | AS | Overlap syndromes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of patients | 15 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Mean age, years (range) | 56·3 (23–78) | 51·4 (31–70) | 52·5 (35–70) | 65 | 46 (38–54) |
| Gender | |||||
| Male | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Female | 13 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Race | |||||
| Chinese | 10 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Malay | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Indian | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Others | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mean duration of disease, years (range) | 14·3 (2–25) | 16·9 (12–36) | 4 (2–6) | 30 | 4·3 (0–8) |
| On immunosuppressives at presentation | 13 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| No. patients with diabetes mellitus | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
AS, ankylosing spondylitis; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; SSc, systemic sclerosis.