Table 2

Comparison of the mean (SD) SF-36 domain and summary scores for patients with SSc, US women from the general population, and patients with selected chronic diseases.

	SSc, n = 504	US Population Norms (women aged 45–54) n = 911	Heart Disease, n = 660	Lung Disease, n = 328	Hypertension, n = 1729	Diabetes, n = 545	Depression, n = 942
Physical function	36.4 (11.8)	48.7 (8.4)^*^†	38.9 (11.2)^*	38.3 (11.6)	43.9 (10.5)^*	41.4 (12.3)^*	44.3 (12.0)^*
Role physical	40.1 (12.1)	49.6 (8.4)^*^†	40.1 (10.7)	39.3 (11.6)	45.0 (9.9)^*	42.6 (11.7)^*	42.9 (11.9)^*
Bodily pain	43.0 (10.0)	48.2 (8.5)^*^†	43.5 (9.9)	43.1 (10.0)	46.0 (11.1)^*	44.2 (10.2)†	42.9 (10.6)
General health	37.7 (10.7)	49.3 (8.8)^*†	40.9 (9.9)^*	38.3 (10.2)	45.5 (11.0)^*	41.4 (10.5)^*	41.0 (10.9)^*
Vitality	45.5 (10.9)	49.5 (8.3)^*†	45.4 (9.5)	42.7 (9.3)^*†	48.4 (9.7)^*	46.0 (10.6)	40.1 (9.8)^*
Social function	42.8 (11.8)	49.7 (8.4)^*^†	44.2 (11.4)	41.8 (11.8)	47.5 (9.6)^*	44.5 (11.7)	38.7 (11.9)^*
Role emotional	44.9 (12.4)	50.3 (8.2)^*^†	43.6 (12.7)	42.5 (13.5)^†	47.3 (9.5)^*	44.7 (13.1)	38.9 (13.0)^*
Mental health	47.6 (10.3)	49.7 (8.3)	48.5 (10.1)^†	45.8 (10.6)^†	49.0 (10.6)	47.7 (10.8)	36.7 (11.1)^*
PCS score	36.7 (11.2)	48.5 (8.7)^*^†	38.9 (10.1)^*	38.3 (10.9)	44.0 (11.3)^*	41.1 (11.2)^*	45.4 (11.6)^*
MCS score	49.0 (11.7)	50.2 (8.1)	48.3 (10.7)	45.6 (11.5)^*	49.7 (9.8)	47.8 (11.5)	36.3 (11.9)^*

↵* Significant p values for comparisons between scores for the given category and SSc using a standard 2-sample t-test.
↵† Significant p values for comparisons using a one-sample Wilcoxon test to account for non-normality. Both utilize a simple Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons to maintain a family-wise type I error rate of < 0.05. PCS: physical component summary, MCS: mental component summary.