Psychological wellbeing in patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome

Objectives To evaluate quality of life and psychological symptoms in patients with pri mary Sjogren's syndrome and to compare this with patients with rheumatoid a rthritis. Methods A standardised questionnaire, the Psychological General Well-Being Index (P GWB), was used to examine the quality of life and psychological symptoms in patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS; n = 34). Patients with rheu matoid arthritis (RA: n = 32) were used as patient controls. Results The total mean score +/- SD for PGWB was 84.9 +/- 16.2 in pSS patients and significantly lower (p = 0.001) than in RA patients (97.7 +/- 17.5). Patien ts with pSS had an increased propensity for depressed mood (p = 0.0009), an d suffered from reduced well-being (p = 0.002) and impaired vitality (p = 0 .003). Conclusion The results suggest that patients with pSS have a reduced quality of life, a higher degree of distress and a lower sense of well-being than patients w ith RA.