Familial risk of systemic sclerosis and co-aggregation of autoimmune diseases in affected families

Background Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare and devastating disease affecting skin and internal organs. Familial aggregation of SSc and co-aggregation with other autoimmune diseases is rarely reported. Methods We identified 23,658,577 beneficiaries registered with the National Health Insurance database in 2010, 1891 of whom had SSc. We identified 21,009,551 parent-child relationships and 17,168,340 full sibling pairs. The familial risks of SSc and other autoimmune diseases and familial transmission were estimated. Results The prevalence of SSc in the general population was 0.008 %. There are... Mehr ...