Incidence, prevalence, and mortality of localized scleroderma in Quebec, Canada: a population-based study

Localized scleroderma is an understudied autoimmune disease characterized by fibrosis of the skin and/or subcutaneous tissue. Only 6 articles report incidence and/or prevalence estimates globally, with significant design limitations and risk of bias. None of the studies originated from Canada or investigated mortality/geospatial epidemiology. We aimed to study the incidence, prevalence, mortality and spatiotemporal trends of localized scleroderma in Quebec, Canada, stratified by sex and age.