Prevalence of primary Sjogren's syndrome in Turkey: a population-based epidemiological study

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of primary Sjogren’s syndrome (pSS) in a general Turkish population according to the latest proposed American–European Consensus Group (AECG) criteria and European‐1 (EU‐1) criteria. Methods: The study was conducted in two districts of Izmir and involved 2835 subjects 20 years of age and older. In the first stage, face‐to‐face interviews were performed at the registered households. In the second stage, subjects reporting symptoms of both dry eye and dry mouth were invited to the hospital for a full examination, which included Schirmer‐1, sialometry and serologic tests. In the third stage, a minor salivary gland biopsy was performed as required. Results: A total of 2887 subjects were contacted and a complete interview was obtained for 2835 (1551 female, 1284 male) subjects. A total of 159 subjects (126 female, 33 male) confirmed oral and ocular dryness, and 86 of these patients (54.1%) underwent a detailed clinical examination in the hospital. pSS was diagnosed in 10 patients (nine females) according to the EU‐1 criteria, and in six patients (six females) according to the AECG criteria. We found a minimum crude prevalence of 0.21% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.03–0.29] in the sample population and an age–sex adjusted prevalence of 0.16% (95% CI: 0.06–0.35), according to AECG criteria. According to EU‐1 criteria, these prevalence rates were found to be 0.35% (95% CI: 0.10–0.45) and 0.28% (95% CI: 0.13–0.51) respectively. Conclusion: The pSS prevalence rates found in the Turkish population in this study were lower than the estimated prevalence rate in a general population.