title: [Primary Sjogren's syndrome: clinical and serological feature of a single centre].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe clinical and serological features of a large series of patients affected by primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS), assessing the evolution of the disease in a long-term follow-up study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinical and laboratory data of 250 patients with pSS attending our Unit for a mean follow-up period of 140 months were retrospectively collected and analysed. In all the cases the diagnosis was made according with the recent international criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Glandular involvement was almost universally present, typically as the first manifestation of the disease and a slow progression of the salivary and lachrymal dysfunction was seen during the observation period. Extraglandular involvement was mild, quite rare and delayed. The respective percentages for muscle-skeletal disease, urogenital, haematological, skin, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, neurological and renal involvement were 60%, 40%, 24%, 20%, 11%, 7%, 8% and 3%. Only 6 patients developed a lymphoma. The serological pattern of the majority of patients remained constant throughout the follow-up period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  pSS is often a benign condition. Since some patients may develop lymphoid malignancies, clinical follow-up is recommended.
authors.affiliation: U.O. di Reumatologia, Università di Pisa, Via Roma, 67 - 56126 Pisa, Italia.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baldini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tavoni
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Merlini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sebastiani
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bombardieri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear / Q000097:blood; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005921:Glomerulonephritis / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology; D014985:Xerophthalmia / Q000209:etiology; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000209:etiology
chemical_list: D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear; D015415:Biomarkers