Subgroups of primary Sjögren's syndrome. Sjögren's syndrome in male and paediatric Greek patients.

Objectives: To describe the clinical and serological findings in male and paediatric Sjögren's syndrome (SS) patients.

Patients And Methods: Using the European criteria for the diagnosis of SS 12 male and 13 paediatric patients were identified and compared with those of 30 consecutive unselected adult female SS patients.

Results: The mean (SD) age of paediatric patients was 9.4 (2.2) years, ranging from 6 to 14 years. Recurrent parotid gland enlargement was the initial clinical manifestation in the majority of the children with a statistical significance compared with male (p < 0.01) and with female patients (p < 0.0001). Sicca manifestations were the most common clinical symptoms in male and female patients at disease onset. The systemic manifestations were similar among the three groups except that men showed lower frequency of arthritis (p < 0.05) and Raynaud's phenomenon (p < 0.05) compared with women. No differences were found among the immunological profile of children and female patients, while male patients had a lower frequency of antinuclear antibodies (p < 0.025) and antibodies to Ro(SSA) nuclear antigens (p < 0.025) compared with women.

Conclusion: Primary SS is rare in children and men in Greece. Recurrent parotid gland enlargement is the most common clinical finding at disease onset in children. Male patients seem to have less systemic manifestations and lower frequency of autoantibodies.