{
  "abstract": "Introduction Sicca symptoms and secondary Sjögren’s disease (SD) are relatively common in Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) and affect the patients’ quality of life. However, only a few studies have focused on the specificities of SSc-related sicca symptoms. The aim of our study was to examine the differences, in terms of clinical presentation, between patients with and without sicca symptoms in a Greek cohort of SSc patients.Material and Methods The present study has a retrospective design. Patients with a definite diagnosis of SSc, that were followed at our centre, were included. Data regarding demographics, clinical and immunological features, organ involvement, as well as comorbidities were recorded from patients’ medical records.Results Of the 404 SSc patients, 39 (9.7%) had a diagnosis of associated SD and were excluded from the study. In total 365 SSc patients (84.7% females, 68.8% limited SSc) were finally enrolled in the analysis, 33.2% of whom had sicca symptoms. Median disease duration was 6.0 (2.0 – 13.0) years. Individuals with sicca symptoms were older at SSc diagnosis (51.1±15.0 vs 47.2±15.1, p=0.001). The percentage of active smokers did not differ between the groups. Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction was more common among patients with sicca symptoms (54.4% vs 28.4%, p<0.001). Gastrointestinal (GI) involvement (66.1% vs 53.7% respectively, p<0.05) and arthralgias (86.0% vs 70.1% respectively, p<0.01) were, also, more common in patients with sicca symptoms, compared to those without sicca symptoms. No statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups regarding pulmonary involvement or the immunological profile. About comorbidities, osteoporosis (38.0% vs 16.4%), urinary tract infections (23.1% vs 12.3%) and depression (41.3% vs 20.6%) were more common in individuals with sicca symptoms (p<0.1 for all comparisons).Conclusions In this cohort of SSc patients, heart, GI and musculoskeletal involvement, along with comorbidities were more common in individuals that reported sicca symptoms. Therefore, SSc patients with sicca symptoms may represent a distinct population and further studies needs to be conducted.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Rheumatology, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece"
      ],
      "name": "Nikolaos Koletsos"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Radiology department, Theageneio Anticancer Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece"
      ],
      "name": "Konstantinos Trentzidis"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Rheumatology, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece"
      ],
      "name": "Nafsika Gerolymatou"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Rheumatology, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece"
      ],
      "name": "Paraskevi Voulgari"
    }
  ],
  "title": "P.381 Clinical differences in systemic sclerosis patients with and without sicca symptoms",
  "uid": "c04f0402-67e7-53de-944a-4a1024e10504"
}