Incidence and prevalence of systemic sclerosis in campo grande, state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

Abstract

Introduction: Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease which shows extreme hetero-geneity in its clinical presentation and that follows a variable and unpredictable course. Although some discrepancies in the incidence and prevalence rates between geographicalregions may reflect methodological differences in the definition and verification of cases, they may also reflect true local differences. Objectives: To determine the prevalence and incidence of systemic sclerosis in the city ofCampo Grande, state capital of Mato Grosso do Sul (MS), Brazil, during the period fromJanuary to December 2014.Methods: All health care services of the city of Campo Grande - MS with attending in the spe-cialty of Rheumatology were invited to participate in the study through a standardized formof clinical and socio-demographic assessment. Physicians of any specialty could report asuspected case of systemic sclerosis, but necessarily the definitive diagnosis should be estab-lished by a rheumatologist, in order to warrant the standardization of diagnostic criteriaand exclusion of other diseases resembling systemic sclerosis. At the end of the study 15 rheumatologists reported that they attended patients with systemic sclerosis and sent the completed forms containing epidemiological data of patients. Results: The incidence rate of systemic sclerosis in Campo Grande for the year 2014 was 11.9 per million inhabitants and the prevalence rate was 105.6 per million inhabitants. Systemic sclerosis patients were mostly women, white, with a mean age of 50.58 years, showing the limited form of the disease with a mean duration of the disease of 8.19 years. Regarding laboratory tests, 94.4% were positive for antinuclear antibody, 41.6% for anti-centromere antibody and 19.1% for anti-Scl70; anti-RNA Polymerase III was performed in 37 patients, with 16.2% positive. Conclusions: The city of Campo Grande, the state capital of MS, presented a lower incidence/prevalence of systemic sclerosis in comparison with those numbers found in US studies and close to European studies' data.