Table 1.
Patients’ baseline characteristics.
| Characteristics | N*. with Available Data n (%) | SSc Patients Presented as Frequency (Percent), or Median (Interquartile Range) |
|---|---|---|
| Demographics | ||
| Sex, female | 372 (100) | 308 (82.8) |
| Age, years | 372 (100) | 59.0 (50.0; 68.0) |
| BMI, kg/m2 | 372 (100) | 24.5 (21.9; 28.0) |
| Disease characteristics | ||
| Cutaneous subset, diffuse | 372 (100) | 73 (19.6) |
| Disease duration # | 372 (100) | |
| ≤3 years | 92 (24.7) | |
| >3 years | 280 (75.3) | |
| Antibody status | ||
| Anti-nuclear antibodies | 372 (100) | 365 (98.1) |
| Anti-centromere | 197 (53) | |
| Anti-topoisomerase I | 82 (22) | |
| Anti-RNA polymerase III | 12 (3.2) | |
| Anti RNP | 11 (3) | |
| Organ involvement | ||
| Interstitial lung disease | 371 (99) | 146 (39.4) |
| Limited ILD £Extensive ILD £ | 103 (71) | |
| 42 (29) | ||
| FVC% | 371 (99) | 104.0 (91.0; 115.0) |
| DLCO% | 363 (97) | 70.0 (59.0; 81.0) |
| mRSS | 372 (100) | 2.5 (1.0; 6.0) |
| Gastrointestinal tract | 372 (100) | 311 (83.6) |
| Pulmonary hypertension | 372 (100) | 12 (3.2) |
| Renal crisis | 364 (97) | 2 (0.5) |
| Digital ulcers | 370 (99) | 168 (45.4) |
| Raynaud phenomenon | 372 (100) | 370 (99.5) |
| Overlap syndrome | 372 (100) | 129 (34.7) |
| Current treatment | ||
| Glucocorticoids | 193 (52) | 64 (33.2) |
| Immunosuppressive drugs $ | 193 (52) | 48 (24.9) |
Values are presented as frequency (percent), median (interquartile range). N* number, SSc systemic sclerosis, BMI body mass index. # Disease duration defined from the first symptom outside the Raynaud phenomenon, FVC% forced vital capacity (% predicted value), DLCO% carbon monoxide lung diffusion capacity (% predicted value). RNA Ribonucleic acid. RNP Ribonucleoprotein. $ Immunosuppressive drugs used were Cyclophosphamide, mycophenolate mofetil, azathioprine, methotrexate, anti-calcineurin, intravenous immunoglobulins, rituximab, anti TNFalpha, tocilizumab (no patients received tocilizumab). £ Limited ILD: Limited involvement of less than 10% of pulmonary parenchyma; Extensive ILD: reaching more than 30% of pulmonary parenchyma. In patients with HRCT extent of 10–30% (termed indeterminate disease), an FVC threshold of 70% was an adequate prognostic substitute, according to Goh et al. ATS journal, 2008. During follow-up, 32 patients (8.6%) died.