Demographical and clinical characteristics of SSc patients
| Characteristic | SSc patients (n=69) |
|---|---|
| Mean age (years±SD) | 62.5±10.3 |
| Sex | |
| Male | 7 (10.1) |
| Female | 62 (89.9) |
| Disease subset | |
| lcSSc | 41 (59.4) |
| dcSSc | 28 (40.6) |
| Mean disease duration (years±SD)* | 8.2±5.7 |
| Autoantibody positivity | |
| ANA | 65 (94.2) |
| Anti-Scl-70 | 24 (34.8) |
| ACA | 32 (46.4) |
| Raynaud's phenomenon | 69 (100) |
| Digital ulcers | 33 (47.8) |
| Capillaroscopy pattern† | |
| Early | 27 (39.1) |
| Active | 25 (36.2) |
| Late | 17 (24.6) |
| Skin score (mean±SD)‡ | 11.2±7.6 |
| ILD§ | 27 (39.1) |
Except where indicated, values are the number (%) of subjects.
Patients were not taking immunosuppressive medications, corticosteroids or other potentially disease-modifying drugs. Before blood sampling, they were washed out for 10 days from oral vasodilating drugs and for 2 months from intravenous prostanoids.
*Disease duration was calculated since the first non-Raynaud's symptom of SSc.
†According to Cutolo et al.10
‡Modified Rodnan skin thickness score.
§Determined by high-resolution CT scan.
ACA, anticentromere antibodies; ANA, anti-nuclear antibodies; Anti-Scl-70, anti-Scl-70 antibodies; dcSSc, diffuse cutaneous SSc; ILD, interstitial lung disease; lcSSc, limited cutaneous SSc; SSc, systemic sclerosis.