リウマチ学: 現在の研究
オープンアクセス

概要

Presence of Sjogren's Syndrome in Dry Eye Patients

Emrah Kan, Mehmet Derya Demirağ and Emrullah Beyazyildiz

Background: To evaluate the prevalence of Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) in patients with dry eye syndrome.

Methods: In this prospective study, patients with dry eye syndrome were evaluated by a single rheumatologist and patients were considered for an underlying rheumatic condition.

Results: Fourty five patients with dry eye syndrome were evaluated. 37 patient was female (82.2%) and 8 was male (17.8%).The mean age was 45,5 ± 10.4. years (18-64). A total of 21 (46.7%) patients had an associated rheumatic disease; the most common being primary SS (14 patients, 66.6%). Other diseases that were associated included scleroderma (5 patients, 23.8%) and undifferentiated connective tissue disease (2 patients, 9.52%).

Conclusions: Our results demonstrate a high frequency of associated SS in a group of patients with dry eye syndrome. We suggest that laboratory evaluation with patient’s clinical presentation as well as a detailed review of systems should be performed in all dry eye patients. Primary SS should be considered as a systemic autoimmune disease underlying beyond sicca involvement.