INTRODUCTION
Sjogren’s syndrome (SS) is a chronic, systemic, inflammatory disease
characterized with lymphocytic infiltration of the exocrine glands,
frequently manifested by dryness in the region affected. Women are
mostly affected by it and it is seen between the ages of 40-50 (1,2).
Local involvement may be seen in salivary and lacrimal glands but it may
also cause systemic, extraglandular involvement (3).
Although the most common extraglandular involvement in SS is pulmonary
involvement; it is an under-researched disorder with important clinical
consequences. The prevalence of pulmonary involvement in SS patients has
been reported to be about 20% (4). Pulmonary involvement in SS is in
the form of interstitial lung disease (ILD) and airway disease. While
patients are generally asymptomatic, the most common symptoms described
are dyspnea on exertion and cough. Dry cough is more common due to
decreased secretions in the airways. Due to drying of the secretions and
impaired clearance; bronchiectasis, bronchiolitis, pneumonia and small
airway obstruction can be observed. The disease is more mortal with
reduced quality of life in interstitial involvement and is one of the
independent risk factors for poor prognosis. Therefore, early diagnosis
and treatment is considered to be important (1).
Lung involvement is the main cause of mortality in patients with
systemic sclerosis and the development of interstitial lung involvement
in the first 3 years, i.e in the early period, is one of the poor
prognostic factors (5).
The course of lung involvement and the factors causing it, are not clear
as in systemic sclerosis. It is stated in the current literature that
although interstitial involvement may be seen as a late manifestation of
SS in SS patients, it may sometimes appear at the onset of the disease.
However, studies investigating early involvement and its effect on the
course are not adequate.
Therefore it was aimed to evaluate the frequency of early lung
involvement, HRCT findings and data of PFT in SS in this study.