Clinical features of primary Sjǒgren's syndrome involved in the extra-gland organs as initial manifestations / 中华全科医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate clinical characteristic of primary Sjogren's syndrome(pSS) with initial manifestations in the extra-gland organs. Methods Clinical data, including symptoms, laboratory parameters and complications of 85 pSS patients with initial manifestations of extra-gland organs hospitalized at the People's Hospital of Peking University during 2003 to 2006 were collected and analyzed retrospectively, as compared to those of pSS with xerophthalmia or xerostomia as initial ones. Results Mean time interval from onset to diagnosis in these patients with initial manifestations involved in the extra-gland organs was 94.5 months, higher than that in those with xerophthalmia or xerostomia as initial ones. Arthritis was manifested initially in 38 of the 85 patients (44.7 percent), peripheral leukopenia in 16 (18.8 percent), thrombocytopenia in nine (10.6 percent) and abnormal liver function in 13 (15.3 percent), respectively. Percentage of serum positive autoantibedies was higher in the patients with initial manifestation of the extra-gland organs than that in those with xerophthalmia or xerostomia as initial ones. Conclusions Initial manifestation of primary Sjogren's syndrome varies, and some patients can be initially involved in their extra-gland organs, with more proportion of arthritis than of other symptoms, and xerophthalmia or xerestomia could appear in them during the course of disease. And, xerophthalmia or xerostomia would not appear even as pSS was diagnosed in some other pSS patients. More attention should be paid to these clinical characteristics mentioned above in practice to avoid misdiagnosis.