Background/Purpose : Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease that primarily affects exocrine glands with a prevalence of 1% to 4.8. SS mainly affects middle-aged women with a female-male ratio of 9:1. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is the prototype of spondyloarthropathy that is characterized by sacro-ileitis, inflammation, enthesitis and also involves peripheral joints, eye and aorta. The prevalence of AS is about 0.5% with a similar female-male ratio. We aimed to evaluate the SS prevalence in patients with AS.

Methods: 143 patients with the diagnosis of AS according to Modified New York Criteria were included in the study. Sicca questionnaire that includes sicca symptoms for SS was performed in all patients. Schirmer test was performed for xerophthalmia and unstimulated salivation test for xerostomia. Rheumatoid factor (RF), antinuclear antibody (ANA), anti-Ro and anti-La antibodies were measured as laboratory tests. Minor salivary gland biopsy was performed in patients with positive xerophthalmia and xerostomia tests and Sicca questionnaire. The presence of SS was assessed according to classification criteria of American-European Consensus Group.

Results: The mean age of patients was 39.6 years old and 73 of them were male. Fourteen (10%) of the patients were diagnosed as SS according to American–European Consensus Group classification criteria. Twenty-three of the patients were undergone minor salivary gland biopsy those fulfilled the three criteria. Fourteen biopsies of the patients were evaluated as pathologically. Three of them were reported as grade IV and 11 of them as grade III sialadenitis according to the criteria of Mason Chisholm. Seven of these 14 patients were male and there was no difference in terms of sex. Only one patient has a positive anti-Ro and anti-La antibodies. However, 13 of patients (except 1 patient) had ANA positivity (> 1/80). There was bilateral sacro-ileitis in MRI of all patients diagnosed as SS.

Conclusion: In our study, we found a high prevalence of SS in patients with AS. ANA positivity was higher in co-existence of SS and AS and it may be a risk factor for SS.

Table 1: General characteristics of the patients

	n(%)
Age (years)	39.6
Sex(F/M)	73/70
Duration of disease (years)	6.6±5.3
Drugs SLZ IFX ADA ETA	89(62.2%) 13(9.1%) 19(13.3%) 20(14%)
Xerostomia	51(35.7%)
Xerophthalmia	24(16.8%)

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/the-prevalence-of-sjogrens-syndrome-in-patients-with-ankylosing-spondylitis/