Secondary Sjögren's syndrome and disease activity of rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

To study the relationship of the presence of secondary SS with disease activity, duration in RA. Eighty two patients with RA were submitted to Schirmer test, minor salivary gland biopsy, questionnaire on sicca symptoms, DAS-28 4v determination. In this population, 20 (24.3%) patients fulfilled the American-European classification criteria for secondary SS. No relation could be found between the presence of secondary SS and disease activity (p = 0.31) and RA duration (p = 0.95). Appearance of Secondary SS in RA patients is independent of RA duration or activity.