Key clinical point: After controlling for socioeconomic status, the increased mortality from scleroderma in African Americans, compared with other races, was no longer significant.

Major finding: The unadjusted hazard ratio for death was 2.061 for African Americans but declined to 1.256 with adjustment for socioeconomic status.

Study details: The data come from a retrospective study of 402 scleroderma patients, 202 of whom were African American.

Disclosures: The researchers had no financial conflicts to disclose.