To investigate whether out-patients with a clinical diagnosis of Sjögren's syndrome (SS) satisfied current preliminary European criteria for SS, and to determine the proportion of patients who satisfied the proposed modified European criteria for SS and thus had indication of an autoimmune process.
Out-patients with a clinical diagnosis of SS registered between 1 January 1999 and 1 November 2000 were included in the study.
Of 203 patients with a clinical diagnosis of SS, 116 (57.1%) satisfied the current European criteria and 83 (40.9%) satisfied the proposed modified criteria.
Sicca symptoms and signs may have a variety of causes. In our study only 40.9% of the patients with a clinical diagnosis of SS satisfied the proposed modified European criteria and had evidence of SS as an autoimmune condition. Our findings indicate that for patient populations with an established diagnosis of SS according to the preliminary European criteria, approximately one-third will lose the diagnosis according to the modified criteria.