Prevalence of Sjögren's syndrome in patients with dry mouth in the region of Central Hungary

Abstract

ObjectiveOne‐third of the Hungarian population suffers from xerostomia. Since there is no evidence of the actual prevalence of Sjögren's syndrome (SS) in Hungary, this study aimed to evaluate the same.Materials and MethodsData were collected from the Faculty of Dentistry, Semmelweis University from 2008 to 2015. A diagnosis of SS was established based on the American College of Rheumatology and European League Against Rheumatism criteria.ResultsOf the 1076 patients examined with sicca symptoms, 188 patients had confirmed SS. Primary SS (pSS) was diagnosed in 135 patients and secondary SS (sSS) was confirmed in 53 patients. According to the available statistical records of the public health service of Hungary, there were an average of 16 (0.0014%, 5–26) newly diagnosed SS cases in the entire population and 141 SS patient‐practitioner consultations (49–232) per 100,000 inhabitants in the country over the past 10 years (based on the past 10 years: 2011–2020).ConclusionResults revealed that approximately 1/5th–1/6th of patients with sicca symptoms have SS, among whom 72% and 285 have pSS and sSS, respectively. Global Hungarian records simultaneously revealed that the number of both new diagnoses and doctor‐SS patient encounters has significantly decreased (by 50%) yearly over the last decade.

Correlations between the histopathological alterations in minor salivary glands and the clinically suspected Sjögren’s syndrome

“…Based on a large scale, prospective cohort study (1726 labial gland biopsies), however, the clinical/lab findings may not always correlate with the morphological alterations [ 22 ]. Similar data have also been provided by a Hungarian study [ 4 ], where a positive focus score was only found in 109 cases (31.8%) out of 342 biopsies from patients with Sicca symptoms.…”

“…Although its frequency may vary considerably depending on the classification criteria used, on the clinical or pathological settings, or on the age groups studied, the estimated prevalence of the primary forms in a US population-based cohort was reported as 22/100,000 inhabitants [ 2 ], but this figure in Europe is around 39/100,000 [ 3 ]. A recent report in Hungary claimed a lower incidence (16/100,000) of newly diagnosed SS cases [ 4 ].…”

A scientometric and comparative study of Sjogren's syndrome research by rheumatologists and stomatologists

“…SS patients often present first to their oral health professional because of their predominantly oral symptomatology, mainly xerostomia. 4 , 5 Hence, stomatologists are frequently the first practitioners to detect the signs of SS, and then rheumatologists are usually the practitioners to manage the systemic symptomatology, such as fatigue, lymphoma, interstitial lung disease, arthralgia, and Raynaud phenomenon, in the middle and late stages of the disease. 6 , 7 , 8 Given the complex and numerous challenges of diagnosing and treating this syndrome, increasingly large number of papers regarding SS have been published.…”