Why carry out this study?

There are no recent epidemiological data on systemic sclerosis (SSc) and SSc-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) in Japan and how patients with these diseases are treated.

This study aimed to estimate the incidence rate and prevalence of systemic sclerosis (SSc) and SSc-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) in Japan, as well as to assess the clinical characteristics of and pharmacotherapy for patients with SSc and SSc-ILD in Japan, using two Japanese medical claims databases.

What was learned from the study?

The prevalence and incidence rates of SSc and SSc-ILD in Japan were comparable to published global data.

There is an unmet need for treatment options for patients with SSc and SSc-ILD in Japan as only a small proportion of patients were receiving immunomodulatory treatments.