TOPLINE

Patients with Sjögren's disease were diagnosed with infectious diseases more frequently than matched control individuals with sicca symptoms or other autoimmune diseases, especially younger patients and those positive for anti-Sjögren's-syndrome-related antigen A (SSA) autoantibodies.

METHODOLOGY

• A retrospective observational analysis of electronic health records from a Utah health system (2015-2023) compared the prevalence, timing, and recurrence of infectious diseases in patients with Sjögren's disease vs matched control individuals.
• Researchers included 3826 patients with Sjögren's disease and 11,478 matched control individuals with sicca symptoms or other autoimmune diseases. The mean age in both groups was 56.47 years, and 88.6% were women.
• Diagnostic codes were used to identify infectious diseases. Reinfections were defined as repeat diagnoses of the same infection occurring at least 90 days apart.

TAKEAWAY

• Overall, 46.71% of patients with Sjögren's disease had at least one infectious disease compared with 41.56% of control individuals (P < .0001). The number of infectious disease diagnoses was also higher in those with Sjögren's disease (mean, 5.30 vs 4.86; P < .001).
• Patients with Sjögren's disease were diagnosed more often with bacterial infections (15.06% vs 9.60%), fungal infections (14.06% vs 9.91%), and viral infections (11.16% vs 9.33%) than control individuals.
• Patients with Sjögren's disease had more reinfections than control individuals (mean, 2.72 vs 1.23 per patient; P < .0001).
• The number of infections increased after vs before the diagnosis of Sjögren's disease (mean, 3.98 vs 2.68; P < .0001). Younger patients and those positive for anti-SSA had higher infection count and reinfection rates.

IN PRACTICE

"[The] results support the need for improved infection surveillance and preventive strategies, such as vaccination and early antimicrobial management, particularly in high-risk subgroups," the authors of the study wrote.

SOURCE

The study was led by Swetha K. Shankar, MDS, University of Utah, Salt Lake City. It was published online on July 30 in ACR Open Rheumatology.

LIMITATIONS

Relying on diagnostic codes prevented microbiologic confirmation and may have missed mild or undiagnosed cases. Data came from a single healthcare system, which might reduce generalizability. The retrospective design prevented establishing any cause-effect relationships.

DISCLOSURES

No specific funding was reported. The authors reported no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.