Background: Systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) is an infrequent disease. Data on incidence and prevalence are scarce and conflictive. There are no such data in Latin America or in Argentina in particular.
Objectives: We undertook to examine the incidence and prevalence of systemic sclerosis in the prepaid health maintenance organization of our hospital, in the city of Buenos Aires.
Methods: Members of the plan between 1999 and 2004 were followed up for incident cases, and prevalence was calculated at the end of the period.
Results: A total of 98,642 persons were followed up for a total of 32,9534 person-years. Density of incidence overall was 21.2 per million person-years (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.4-37). Density of incidence for diffuse disease was 6.1 per million person-years (95% CI, 2.3-14.5), and for limited disease, it was 15.2 per million person-years (95% CI, 2-28). Prevalence was 296 per million people (95% CI, 193-434); females, 477 per million people (95% CI, 309-704); and males, 28 per million people (95% CI, 7-157). Prevalence for diffuse disease was 57 per million people (95% CI, 18-133), and for limited disease, it was 240 per million people (95% CI, 148-365).
Conclusions: Despite potential biases, these data are in agreement with others from different parts of the world and the first obtained in Argentina and, to our knowledge, in Latin America.