Table 1.
Baseline characteristics
| Parameter | Mean (SD) | Median | Range |
| Age (years) | 48 (12) | 47 | 28–67 |
| Weight (kg) | 65 (9) | 66 | 50–79 |
| Height (cm) | 169 (8) | 170 | 157–184 |
| Sex | |||
| Female (n) | 7 | – | – |
| Male (n) | 2 | – | – |
| Disease duration (months) since | |||
| Onset of Raynaud’s phenomenon | 32 (38) | 17 | 2–120 |
| Onset of skin involvement | 20 (16) | 16 | 8–58 |
| mRSS | 28 (10) | 25 | 19–46 |
| QoLa | |||
| HAQ-DI | 1.1 (0.6) | 1.0 | 0.5–2.2 |
| SF-36 Physical component sum | 35 (12) | 37 | 17–48 |
| Parameter | Yes | No | Unknown |
| Antinuclear antibody (ANA) positive (n) | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| Anti-RNA polymerase III positive (n) | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| Anti-topoisomerase I positive (n) | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| Lung fibrosis (by high-resolution CT) (n) | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| Pitting scars (n) | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| Digital ulcers (n) | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| Ongoing corticosteroid treatmentb (n) | 3 | 6 | 0 |
| Previous immunosuppressive treatment (n) | 0 | 9 | 0 |
SD standard deviation
aQoL-HAQ-DI is a disability index ranging from 0 to 3 where 0 means that certain activities can be done without difficulty and 3 means that these activities cannot be done at all. SF-36 is a health index where 0 means maximum disability and 100 means no disability. The SF-36 Physical component sum is a calculated score based on different questions related to physical health
bIndication was joint involvement in all 3 patients and doses equivalent to < 10 mg prednisolone per day