SUBGROUPS OF PRIMARY SJOGRENS-SYNDROME - SJOGRENS-SYNDROME IN MALE AND PEDIATRIC GREEK PATIENTS

Objectives-To describe the clinical and serological findings in male a nd paediatric Sjogren's syndrome (SS) patients. Patients and Methods-U sing the European criteria for the diagnosis of SS 12 male and 13 paed iatric patients were identified and compared with those of 30 consecut ive unselected adult female SS patients. Results-The mean (SD) age of paediatric patients was 9.4 (2.2) years, ranging from 6 to 14 years. R ecurrent parotid gland enlargement was the initial clinical manifestat ion in the majority of the children with a statistical significance co mpared with male (p <0.01) and with female patients (p <0.0001). Sicca manifestations were the most common clinical symptoms in male and fem ale patients at disease onset. The systemic manifestations were simila r among the three groups except that men showed lower frequency of art hritis (p <0.05) and Raynaud's phenomenon (p <0.05) compared with wome n. No differences were found among the immunological profile of childr en and female patients, while male patients had a lower frequency of a ntinuclear antibodies (p <0.025) and antibodies to Ro(SSA) nuclear ant igens (p <0.025) compared with women. Conclusion-Primary SS is rare in children and men in Greece. Recurrent parotid gland enlargement is th e most common clinical finding at disease onset in children. Male pati ents seem to have less systemic manifestations and lower frequency of autoantibodies.