To explore the role of smoking and obesity in primary Sjögren syndrome (pSS).
Olmsted County (Minnesota, USA) residents (n = 106) diagnosed with pSS from 2000 to 2015 were compared to 3 controls without pSS and matched for age and sex who were randomly selected from Olmsted County residents.
Current smokers were less likely to be pSS cases (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.14-0.85), while there was no association between former smoking and case/control status (OR 1.27, 95% CI 0.80-2.03) compared to never smokers. Smoking status was not associated with antinuclear antibody, anti-SSA, anti-SSB, or rheumatoid factor positivity (p > 0.05). OR for obesity was 0.79 (95% CI 0.48-1.30).
In this population-based study, current smoking was inversely associated with case/control status, while body mass index lacked any association.