The Incidence of Secondary Sjogren Syndrome in Relation to Disease Activity&Disease Duration of Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Background Secondary sjogren syndrome is a chronic autoimmune disease that associated with connective tissue disorders most commonly Rheumatoid arthritis. Aim of the work to evaluate the incidence of secondary Sjogren syndrome in relation to disease activity& disease duration of Rheumatoid arthritis. Methods 61 Rheumatoid arthritis patients of either gender with age range (25- 60) y. , of them (31 patients with Secondary sjogren syndrome diagnosed according to American-European Consensus Group criteria (AECC)& 30 Rheumatoid arthritis patients diagnosed clinically by rheumatology specialists) both of them evaluated clinically by DAS28-score& subjected to questionnaire including duration of the disease. Result a comparison between two studied diseased groups using ROC curve, showed highly significant differences at p =0.018 regardind disease duration, and secondary sjogren group revealed long duration than Rheumatoid arthritis group. while no relation could be found between DAS28& occurrence of secondary Sjogren syndrome. Conclusion the occurrence of secondary sjogren syndrome affected by disease duration but independent of DAS28 Rheumatoid arthritis.