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. 2020 Aug 12;9(8):2620.
doi: 10.3390/jcm9082620.

Sjögren's Syndrome: The Clinical Spectrum of Male Patients

Loukas Chatzis  1 , Vasileios C Pezoulas  2 , Francesco Ferro  3 , Saviana Gandolfo  4 , Valentina Donati  3 , Marco Binutti  4 , Sara Zandonella Callegher  4 , Aliki Venetsanopoulou  1 , Evangelia Zampeli  5 , Maria Mavrommati  5 , Ourania D Argyropoulou  1 , Giorgos Michalopoulos  1 , Paraskevi V Voulgari  6 , Themis Exarchos  7 , Chiara Baldini  3 , Fotini N Skopouli  5 , Dimitrios I Fotiadis  2   8 , Salvatore De Vita  4 , Haralampos M Moutsopoulos  5   9 , Athanasios G Tzioufas  1 , Andreas V Goules  1
Affiliations

Sjögren's Syndrome: The Clinical Spectrum of Male Patients

Loukas Chatzis et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Background: To compare the clinical, serological and histologic features between male and female patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and explore the potential effect of gender on lymphoma development.

Methods: From a multicenter population (Universities of Udine, Pisa and Athens, Harokopion and Ioannina (UPAHI)) consisting of consecutive SS patients fulfilling the 2016 ACR/EULAR criteria, male patients were identified, matched and compared with female controls. Data-driven multivariable logistic regression analysis was applied to identify independent lymphoma-associated factors.

Results: From 1987 consecutive SS patients, 96 males and 192 matched female controls were identified and compared. Males had a higher frequency of lymphoma compared to females (18% vs. 5.2%, OR = 3.89, 95% CI: 1.66 to 8.67; p = 0.0014) and an increased prevalence of serum anti-La/SSB antibodies (50% vs. 34%, OR = 1.953, 95% CI: 1.19 to 3.25; p = 0.0128). No differences were observed in the frequencies of lymphoma predictors between the two genders. Data-driven multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed negative association of the female gender with lymphoma and positive association with lymphadenopathy.

Conclusion: Male SS patients carry an increased risk of lymphoma development. Although statistics showed no difference in classical lymphoma predictors compared to females, data-driven analysis revealed gender and lymphadenopathy as independent lymphoma-associated features.

Keywords: lymphoma; male gender; primary Sjögren’s syndrome.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors of the manuscript have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of lymphoma and classical risk factors between male and female patients with Sjögren’s syndrome.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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