Secondary Sjögren’s syndrome affects approximately one-quarter of all patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, and the frequency increases with age, according to data published in the Journal of Rheumatology.
“The clinical SLE-[secondary Sjögren’s syndrome (sSS)] phenotype has been described as a mild version of SLE with dominance of skin and joint manifestations and with less severe internal organ involvement especially nephritis,” Guillermo Ruacho, DMD, of the Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm, and colleagues wrote. “Differences and similarities between [primary] SS and SLE with SS (SLE-sSS) have been studied, but to what extent the inflammatory pattern differs between SLE-sSS and SLE patients without SS (SLE-nonsSS) is not known, and this information may be important with regard to treatment perspectives.”
They added, “To our knowledge, no previous study has investigated SLE patients and matched population controls for both subjective and objective symptoms of SS and associated SSA/SSB autoantibodies.”
According to the researchers, 23.2% of patients with SLE demonstrated secondary Sjögren’s syndrome. In addition, patients in the SLE group with secondary Sjögren’s syndrome were older, and more predominantly female, compared with those without. Those with secondary Sjögren’s syndrome were older at inclusion (P < .0001) and at SLE onset (P < .0001), compared with those without. In addition, the percentage of patients with SLE and secondary Sjögren’s syndrome increased with rising age.
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