Table 1

Traditional risk factors in systemic sclerosis patients and healthy controls

Characteristic
Patients (n = 49)
Controls (n = 32)
P value

Age, years
55.4 ± 11.6
50.9 ± 10.1
0.078
Male gender, number (percentage)
8 (16%)
3 (9.4%)
0.513
Body mass index, kg/m2
23.7 ± 2.9
24.0 ± 2.9
0.582
Smoking



     Pack years for smokers, number (percentage)
3 (6%)
2 (6.5%)
1.000
     Median (range)
20 (1–48)
10 (6–14)

Diabetes mellitus, number (percentage)
2 (4%)
0
0.523
Hypertension treated with antihypertensive agents, number (percentage)
12 (24%)
2 (6%)
0.120
Blood pressure, mm Hg



     Systolic
120 (110–135)
120 (110–125)
0.409
     Diastolic
75 (70–80)
75 (70–80)
0.379
Cholesterol, mmol/L



     Total
5.22 ± 1.00
5.53 ± 1.06
0.217
     Low-density lipoprotein
3.02 ± 0.85
3.06 ± 1.08
0.871
     High-density lipoprotein
1.40 (1.23–1.80)
1.68 (1.48–1.89)
0.027
Triglycerides, mmol/L
1.36 (1.16–2.14)
1.17 (0.77–1.67)
0.030
Lipid-lowering drugs, number (percentage)
7 (14%)
0
0.038
     Simvastatin, number (mean dose in milligrams)
4 (20)
0

     Atorvastatin, number (mean dose in milligrams)
2 (25)
0

     Rosuvastatin, number (mean dose in milligrams)
1 (10)
0

Family history of cardiovascular disease, number (percentage)
10 (20%)
5 (16%)
0.603
Cardiovascular history, number (percentage)
4 (8%)
0
0.149
     Cardiovascular
1


     Cerebrovascular
1


     Peripheral vascular disease
2


C-reactive protein, mg/L
3.5 (1.6–7.0)
0.8 (0.3–2.0)
< 0.001

Unless stated otherwise, data are expressed as mean ± standard deviation when normally distributed and as median (interquartile range) when non-normally distributed.

Hettema et al. Arthritis Research & Therapy 2008 10:R49   doi:10.1186/ar2408