The prevalence of Sjögren's syndrome in Behçet's syndrome.

OBJECTIVE

The role of autoimmune mechanisms in Behçet's syndrome (BS) is debated. Sjögren's syndrome (SS) accompanies most autoimmune diseases. Thus we investigated the prevalence of SS in BS in a formal protocol.

METHODS

The study was conducted in 2 phases. During the first phase subjective symptoms of dryness were blindly assessed by questionnaires and Schirmer I and Saxon tests were done in 67 patients with BS and 100 healthy and diseased controls. During the 2nd phase 30 patients with BS and 19 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) had salivary gland biopsies along with rose bengal dye, Schirmer I and tear breakup time tests.

RESULTS

During the first phase only patients with primary SS had significantly abnormal findings. However during the 2nd phase pathologic changes in salivary gland biopsies and positive RB tests were highly significantly more prevalent among patients with RA.

CONCLUSION

SS is not a feature of BS.