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.