Introduction:

Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease of unknown cause that produces fibrosis in the skin and some internal organs together with vascular alterations.

Objective:

To characterize a systemic sclerosis cohort of patients.

Methods:

A cross-sectional descriptive observational study was carried out in patients with this entity, treated at the Rheumatology Service of Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital from 2005 to 2016. One hundred seventy nine (179) patients formed the sample.

Results:

In the groups studied, 42.45% were between 45 and 59 years old, 91.62% were women and 68.16% were white. 59.22% had diffuse systemic sclerosis. 52.51% had interstitial lung disease as visceral involvement. ANA and antiScL-70 were positive in 54.19% and 25.70% respectively. 25.70% of the cases died due to complications of the disease.

Conclusions:

The characterization of the cohort of patients with systemic sclerosis showed that the onset age of the disease and the sex were the same as those reported in the literature, but not for skin color. Diffuse systemic sclerosis predominated. The most frequent visceral involvement was the skin, followed by lung damage.

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