| dc.description.abstract | Objective: Between 2008 and 2023, 306 patients were referred to the Department of Oral Surgery and Oral Medicine, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, for salivary gland biopsy after clinical suspicion of Sjögren’s syndrome. This study aimed to investigate associations between serology, histology, and sicca symptoms by stratifying patients according to serology (single or double seropositivity according to anti-SSA and anti-SSB) and focus score (FS).
Material and Methods: Information was collected from referrals and visits. Collected information included oral and ocular dryness symptoms, sialometry, Schirmer I test, biopsy histological findings, and serological findings. Patients were classified using the 2002 American-European Consensus Group classification criteria and were stratified into subgroups according to their serological profiles and FS, which were compared.
Results: The majority of patients were females, and the most frequently referred age group was 50-59 years. Most patients had both oral and ocular symptoms. Seropositive patients had higher median FS compared to seronegative patients. Double seropositive patients had significantly higher median FS compared to single seropositive patients. The few asymptomatic patients had significantly higher median FS than patients presenting only ocular symptoms.
Conclusions: The results indicated that anti-SSB, in addition to anti-SSA, should be routinely evaluated as possible predictors of increased FS.
Keywords: Sjögren’s syndrome, serology, focus score, anti-SSA, anti-SSB | en_US |