The Clinical and Immunological Picture of Primary Sjogren's Syndrome in Qatar

Abstract

Background: Primary Sjogren's Syndrom(SS) is an autoimmune disease with diverse clinical presentation. This study was conducted to describe the clinical and immunological picture of SS in patients seen in the main hospital in Qatar. Methods: We reviewed all the medical records of patients seen at Hamad medical corporation between 1997 and 2002 who met the classification criteria for primary SS. Eighteen patient met these criteria. Results: Female to male ratio were 9:1. The average age at the time of diagnosis was 40.6 (range from 24-61) with a period of 2.3 years before the diagnosis was established. Dry eyes and/or dry mouth were the presenting symptoms in 66%. Parotid swelling alone or with other symptoms were the presenting symptoms in 17%..Renal tubular acidosis were seen in 17% and fatigue in 44%. Shirmer test was positive in 85% and lip biopsy in 80% of patients in whom the tests were done.Anti-SS-A/Ro were positive in 71% and Anti-SS-B/La were positive in 50%. Conclusion: Our results are almost similar to other studies in the west.