Prevalence and Clinical Aspects of Sjogren Syndrome in Dry Eye Patients.

Lee, Jun Sung; Choi, Won; Lee, Shin Seok; Yoon, Kyung Chul

doi:2012.53.4.499

J Korean Ophthalmol Soc > Volume 53(4); 2012 > Article

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Ophthalmological Society 2012;53(4):499-504.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3341/jkos.2012.53.4.499 Published online April 15, 2012.

Prevalence and Clinical Aspects of Sjogren Syndrome in Dry Eye Patients.

Jun Sung Lee, Won Choi, Shin Seok Lee, Kyung Chul Yoon

¹Department of Ophthalmology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea. kcyoon@chonnam.ac.kr
²Department of Internal Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.

건성안 환자에서 쇼그렌증후군의 빈도 및 임상양상

이준성¹⋅최 원¹⋅이신석²⋅윤경철¹

Departments of Ophthalmology¹and Internal Medicine², Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea

Abstract

PURPOSE
To investigate the prevalence and clinical aspects of Sjogren syndrome in patients who were diagnosed with dry eye syndrome in Korea. METHODS: The medical records of patients who were diagnosed with dry eye syndrome in a dry eye clinic during a 2-year period (March 2008 to March 2010) and were followed up for more than 3 months were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: A total of 206 patients were included in the present study. Fifty-eight patients (28%) had Sjogren syndrome and 39 patients (19%) showed primary Sjogren syndrome. Sjogren syndrome patients showed poorer results than non-Sjogren syndrome patients in ocular surface disease index score (OSDI), tear break up time, Schirmer test score, and ocular surface staining score using the Oxford scheme (p < 0.05). Among the patients with primary Sjogren syndrome, 27 patients were SSA (anti-Ro antibodies) or SSB (anti-La antibodies) positive and 12 patients were sero-negative. There were no statistically significant differences in objective or subjective parameters between the sero-positive and sero-negative groups. CONCLUSIONS: Sjogren syndrome was observed in 28% of all dry eye patients, in two-thirds of severe dry eye patients. Sjogren syndrome patients showed more severe clinical aspects than dry eye patients with non-Sjogren syndrome. Diagnosing Sjogren syndrome through systemic evaluation is necessary in the patients with severe dry eye.

Key Words: Autoantibodies;Dry eye;Prevalence;Sjogren syndrome