SynthesisRheumatology (Oxford, England)2021
Incidence and prevalence of systemic sclerosis globally: a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Rheumatology (Oxford, England), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 107 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
107 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Epidemiology of systemic sclerosis in the Asia-Pacific region: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Annals of medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Characteristics and factors associated with treatment response among patients with eosinophilic fasciitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Rheumatology international · 2025Pooled it
- Association between systemic sclerosis and risk of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease: a meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2024Pooled it
- SARS-CoV-2 vaccine breakthrough infection in the older adults: a meta-analysis and systematic review.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Pooled it
- A phase 2 randomized trial of safety and pharmacokinetics of IgPro20 and IgPro10 in patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2025Trial
- [Survey of care situation for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic sclerosis with pulmonary involvement in Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2026Article
- Yohimbine attenuates bleomycin-induced skin fibrosis by modulating the PI3K/Akt-MAPK signaling: an integrated network pharmacology and in vivo study.Journal of molecular histology · 2026Article
- Sex- and Gender-Related Differences in Pruritus in Dermatological Diseases: Insights into Inflammatory, Autoimmune, and Connective Tissue Disorders.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Integrating palliative care principles into systemic sclerosis management.Rheumatology international · 2026Review
- On the correlation of tryptophan and its kynurenine pathway metabolites level in blood, saliva and urine in systemic sclerosis patients.Rheumatology international · 2026Article
- Plasma-Derived Extracellular Vesicle-Enriched Fractions as a Potential Source of Biomarkers for Systemic Sclerosis-Associated Interstitial Lung Disease (SSc-ILD): A Shotgun Proteomic Exploration Analysis.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The Convergence of Fibrosis and Granulomatous Inflammation: A Case Series on the Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenges of Systemic Sclerosis and Sarcoidosis Overlap Syndrome.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Cardiac involvement in systemic sclerosis: mechanisms, manifestations and management.Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2026Review
- Article
- Comparative evaluation of antinuclear antibody detection by indirect immunofluorescence and line immunoassay with clinical correlation in suspected autoimmune disease patients: a retrospective cross-sectional study.Clinical rheumatology · 2026Article
- TPI1 and TPM4 are strong candidate RNA biomarkers for systemic sclerosis.Arthritis research & therapy · 2026Article
- Impact of male sex in clinical and laboratory features of systemic sclerosis.Advances in rheumatology (London, England) · 2026Article
- Predictor factors of successful treatment response in interstitial lung disease-related systemic sclerosis.Journal of scleroderma and related disorders · 2026Article
- Precision medicine in systemic sclerosis: back to the bedside.Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease · 2026Article
- A Tight Squeeze - Cardiac Tamponade in a Scleroderma Patient.Journal of community hospital internal medicine perspectives · 2026Article
47 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesWe aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis on the incidence and prevalence of SSc covering the entire literature.
methodsThis study followed the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement of 2009. We conducted a systematic search in MEDLINE, Web of Science and Embase to identify articles reporting incidence and/or prevalence of SSc. Two authors conducted the search, reviewed articles for inclusion and extracted relevant data. We used random-effects models to estimate the pooled prevalence and incidence of SSc and performed subgroup analyses by sex, case definition and region to investigate heterogeneity. We explored the association between calendar period and reported estimates using meta-regression.
resultsAmong 6983 unique records identified, we included 61 studies of prevalence and 39 studies of incidence in the systematic review. The overall pooled prevalence of SSc was 17.6 (95% CI 15.1, 20.5) per 100 000 and the overall pooled incidence rate of SSc was 1.4 (95% CI 1.1, 1.9) per 100 000 person-years. We observed significant regional variations in reported estimates; studies conducted in North America reported considerably higher estimates than other regions. The pooled incidence and prevalence in women were five times higher than in men. More recent studies reported higher estimates than older ones.
conclusionIn this comprehensive review of the incidence and prevalence of SSc across the world, there was large heterogeneity among estimates, which should be taken into consideration when interpreting the results.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.