Primary Sjögren syndrome (pSS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by lymphocytic infiltration of salivary and lachrymal glands associated with oral and ocular dryness. It is 9 to 13 times more common in women than men and typically affects women between the ages of 40 and 60 years1. Fatigue and pain are common symptoms, reported by > 60% of patients. They are closely linked with low mood and reduced health-related quality of life in patients with this condition and can be disabling in severity2.
As a result, pSS has potential health economic consequences. This is of particular importance as we move into an era of clinical trials for (expensive) biologic agents for pSS manifestations. There are a limited number of published papers about the effect of developing pSS on patients’ employment and ability to work and what aspects of the disease may predict work disability3,4,5. In this issue of The Journal, Mandl, et al report the results of their study of work disability in newly diagnosed patients with pSS in Skåne County in Sweden6. This study prospectively collected clinical data of 51 patients with pSS from the Malmö Sjögren’s Syndrome Register and linked these data to employment data from 1 year before to 2 years after the diagnosis of pSS. The employment data came from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency. This was compared to employment data from age-, sex-, and residence-matched controls from the Swedish population register in a 1:4 ratio. At the time of diagnosis, 16% of patients with pSS were already receiving a disability pension and 10% were on sick leave. After the diagnosis, the authors showed a steady increase in work disability, initially including …
Address correspondence to Prof. S.J. Bowman, Rheumatology Dept., Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TH, UK. E-mail: simon.bowman{at}uhb.nhs.uk