Demographic, Clinical and Serological Characteristics of the Patients with Sjögren’s Syndrome: A Tertiary Clinic Experience

Abstract

Objective:This study aimed to evaluate the demographic, clinical and serological characteristics of patients with Sjögren’s syndrome (SS).Materials and Methods:Forty-nine patients with SS admitted to our outpatient clinic between January 2015 and April 2019 were included in this study. Patients were evaluated retrospectively in terms of age, gender and primary/secondary SS state; concomitant diseases with secondary SS, the presence of other related chronic diseases, minor salivary gland biopsy and autoantibody evaluation results were recorded.Results:The mean age of the 49 patients (46 females, 3 males) included in the study was 48.39±11.45 years (minimum: 18, maximum: 81). Female/male ratio was 15.3/1. Thirty-four (69.4%) of the patients had primary SS, while 15 (30.6%) patients were diagnosed as secondary SS. The most common symptom at the time of diagnosis was dry eye (98%) and dry mouth (92%). Antinuclear antibody positivity was found to be 40.8% and rheumatoid factor positivity as 28.6%. Anti-SS-A and anti-SS-B was positive in 46.9% and 26.5% of the patients, respectively.Conclusion:SS is characterised by heterogeneity of clinical manifestations, serological markers and symptoms. The symptom severity and variety of the patients are also affected by the other concomitant rheumatic diseases.

Keywords

• sjögren’s syndrome
• sicca symptoms
• primary sjögren’s syndrome
• secondary sjögren’s syndrome
• auto-antibodies