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Time to diagnosis longer for women with systemic sclerosis following onset of Raynaud’s phenomenon
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Women with diffuse systemic sclerosis had a significantly longer time to diagnosis when compared with men with diffuse systemic sclerorosis after the onset of Raynaud’s phenomenon, although the difference was small, according to study results.
Researchers in Canada studied 1,129 patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc; median age, 56 years; 86.6% women) enrolled in the Canadian Scleroderma Research Group Registry between August 2004 and February 2012. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess and stratify association between sex and time of diagnosis from onset of Raynaud’s phenomenon.
Diffuse SSc was present in 418 patients (37%), while 668 patients (59.2%) had limited SSc and 43 patients (3.8%) had sine SSc. Median disease duration was 11.9 years since Raynaud’s phenomenon onset. Women had significantly longer time to diagnosis with diffuse SSc following onset of Raynaud’s phenomenon (median, 1.1 years) compared with men (median, 0.8 years; P=.037).
“There were no significant or substantive sex differences in time to diagnosis after Raynaud’s onset in limited SSc or from onset of first non-Raynaud’s disease manifestation in diffuse or limited SSc,” the researchers reported.
“This study found that time to diagnosis was significantly longer for women with diffuse SSc than men with diffuse SSc after onset of Raynaud’s phenomenon, although the magnitude of the difference was small and not clinically important,” the researchers concluded. “There were no sex differences in time to diagnosis from onset of Raynaud’s phenomenon in limited disease or from onset of non-Raynaud’s phenomenon in diffuse or limited disease.
“Overall, sex does not appear to influence time to diagnosis meaningfully.”
Disclosure: See the study for a full list of relevant financial disclosures.
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