Sjögren disease,new name,new guidelines: Key messages for primary care

Abstract

Sjögren’s syndrome is increasingly renamed Sjögren disease, as in the recent British Society of Rheumatology guidelines. These guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations for the management of adult and juvenile onset Sjögren disease. Sjögren disease is the second most common autoimmune rheumatic disease (after rheumatoid arthritis), affecting approximately 0.6% of adults, over 90% of whom are women. Sjögren disease can occur as a stand-alone autoimmune disease or overlap with other conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus or systemic sclerosis. This article aims to highlight the salient features of the guidelines for primary care physicians to improve the early diagnosis of Sjögren disease and inform the day-to-day management of established cases. The two clinical case scenarios featured in this article should help to highlight the importance of early diagnostic pick up whilst minimising false positive diagnosis and to highlight key messages from the new guidelines. A summary sheet of these guidelines is included in the supplementary material.