ANTIINFLAMMATORY DRUGS DO NOT ALLEVIATE BRONCHIAL HYPERREACTIVITY IN SJOGRENS-SYNDROME

Bronchial hyperreactivity (BHR) is found in Sjogren's syndrome, as in a number of other conditions such as asthma. BHR associated with asthm a can be effectively treated with corticosteroids or sodium cromoglyca te. We treated 19 Sjogren's syndrome patients with BHR with inhaled bu desonide and inhaled cromoglycate for 6 weeks each. None of the treatm ents had any significant effect on symptoms of hyperreactivity or lung function. There was no effect on BHR measured as methacholine reactiv ity. Primary Sjogren's syndrome is a disease with inflammation not onl y in the salivary and lacrimal glands but also in the pulmonary alveol i and the bronchi. The main inflammatory cell is the lymphocyte, where as, in the bronchi in asthma, the eosinophil granulocyte is the charac teristic inflammatory cell. The cause of the discrepancy with regard t o treatability of BHR in asthma and in Sjogren's syndrome is not known . Possibly not all BHR is caused by inflammation. There is not a perfe ct correlation between inflammation and hyperreactivity even in asthma . Even if the bronchial inflammation and the asthma symptoms are easy to treat with anti-inflammatory medicines, a considerable component of BHR usually still remains, as measured with methacholine or histamine .