Nailfold capillary abnormalities in patients with Sjögren's syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus.

It is unknown whether primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have the same nailfold capillary abnormality, although they show similarity in several clinical, immunological and genetic aspects. Microscopy of the nailfold capillaries was undertaken in the two diseases and the observed parameters were compared with age- and sex-matched controls using analysis of variance. pSS and SLE showed a different frequency in their clinical and laboratory findings, except for the presence of anti-SS-A/B antibodies. All nailfold capillary parameters showed significantly higher values than those of corresponding normal controls, although between pSS and SLE there was no significant difference. The results may indicate that pSS and SLE are part of a spectrum of disorder.