The prevalence of Sjogren syndrome in patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis

Objective: To assess the prevalence of Sjogren syndrome (SS) in patients wi th primary progressive MS (PPMS). Background: SS may be considered in the d ifferential diagnosis of MS. Age at onset and clinical presentation are sim ilar in SS and PPMS. However, occurrence of SS in definite cases of PPMS ha s been recently reported. Methods: Proposed clinical and laboratory diagnos tic criteria for SS were systematically assessed in 60 consecutive patients with PPMS. The authors questioned all patients about xerophthalmia and xer ostomia, biopsied minor salivary glands, and performed a Schirmer test, a s alivary gland scintigraphy, and anti-Ro (SSa) and anti-La (SSb) serologies. Results: Ten patients (16.6%) met four or more criteria for SS. This preva lence is higher than in the general population (1 to 5%) and implies that S S can mimic PPMS. Conclusions: The authors propose that SS should be screen ed for systematically in patients with PPMS.