Evaluation of patients with dry eye for presence of underlying Sjögren syndrome.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the rate of Sjögren syndrome (SS) in a cohort of patients with dry eye syndrome.


METHODS
Medical records of patients with a primary diagnosis of dry eye syndrome (International Classification of Diseases [ICD] code 375.15 or 370.33) were reviewed retrospectively. Patients who had 2 or more visits to a single dry eye center during a 2-year period (January 2004 to January 2006) were considered.


RESULTS
Two hundred twenty patients with dry eye syndrome were identified. A total of 57 patients (25.9%) had an underlying rheumatic condition: 25 patients (11.4%) had rheumatoid arthritis and 24 (10.9%) had primary Sjögren syndrome (PSS). Majority of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis (96%) carried the diagnosis at the time of presentation. Of all patients with PSS, only 33.3% (8/24) carried the diagnosis at the time of presentation. Fifty percent (12/24) were diagnosed as a result of the initial evaluation. Among those, only 66.6% (8/12) tested SSA (anti-Ro antibodies) or SSB (anti-La antibodies) positive. One third of patients (4/12) tested only antinuclear antibody positive at a titer of <1/320 and required minor salivary gland biopsy for definitive diagnosis. Additional 16.7% (4/24), who were initially serologically negative, eventually underwent minor salivary gland biopsy and became diagnosed with SS.


CONCLUSIONS
PSS seems to be underdiagnosed in patients with dry eye syndrome and should be the focus of diagnostic evaluations. A minor salivary gland biopsy might be required for a definitive diagnosis in a significant proportion of the patients with SS.
Ocular Surface Diseases and Dry Eye Clinic, Division of Cornea, Wilmer Eye Institute, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. esakpek@jhmi.edu
Esen Karamursel
EK
Akpek
Alena
A
Klimava
Jennifer E
JE
Thorne
Don
D
Martin
Kaevalin
K
Lekhanont
Ann
A
Ostrovsky
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear / Q000097:blood; D001706:Biopsy; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000473:pathology; D012859:Sjogren's Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014985:Xerophthalmia / Q000209:etiology*; D055815:Young Adult
D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear; C035356:SS-A antibodies; C035357:SS-B antibodies