Title:Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome and Cardiovascular Disease
VOLUME: 18 ISSUE: 5
Author(s):Konstantinos Melissaropoulos*, Dimitrios Bogdanos, Theodoros Dimitroulas, Lazaros I. Sakkas, George D. Kitas and Dimitrios Daoussis
Affiliation:Department of Rheumatology, Patras North Sector Health Center, Patras, Department of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Larissa 41 110, 4th Department of Internal Medicine Hippokration Hospital, Medical School, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Department of Rheumatology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Thessaly, Larissa 41 110, Department of Rheumatology, Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley, West Midlands, Department of Rheumatology, Patras University Hospital, University of Patras Medical School, Patras
Keywords:Sjögren's syndrome, cardiovascular morbidity, atherosclerosis, echocardiography, anti-Ro antibodies, heart block,
dysautonomia.
Abstract:Sjögren’s syndrome is a rheumatic autoimmune disease that primarily affects middle-aged
women and runs a slowly progressing course with sicca symptoms being the prevalent manifestation.
Premature atherosclerosis and increased cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality are frequently
encountered in rheumatic diseases characterized by significant systemic inflammation, such as the inflammatory
arthritides, systemic vasculitides and systemic lupus erythematosus. In the same context,
chronic inflammation and immune aberrations underlying Sjögren’s syndrome are also reported to be
associated with augmented risk of atherosclerosis. Increased CV disease (CVD) frequency has been
found in recent meta-analyses. The involvement of the CV system is not a common feature of Sjögren’s
syndrome; however, specific manifestations, such as autoantibody-mediated heart block, pericarditis,
pulmonary arterial hypertension and dysautonomia, have been described. This review focuses on studies
addressing CV morbidity in Sjögren’s syndrome and presents current data regarding distinct CV features
of the disease.