Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jul;44(7):2883-2887.
doi: 10.1007/s10067-025-07489-7. Epub 2025 May 19.

Cancer risk in patients with Sjögren's syndrome in Lithuanian cohort study

Gintarė Jonušienė  1 , Augustė Kačėnienė  2 , Vaida Gedvilaitė  3 , Jolanta Dadonienė  4   5 , Dalia Miltinienė  5   6 , Giedrė Deresevičienė  5 , Giedrė Smailytė  2   4
Affiliations

Cancer risk in patients with Sjögren's syndrome in Lithuanian cohort study

Gintarė Jonušienė et al. Clin Rheumatol. 2025 Jul.

Abstract

Introduction: Sjögren's syndrome (SjS) is a systemic autoimmune disease that predominantly affects the exocrine salivary and lacrimal glands, leading to the manifestation of classic symptoms-dry mouth and eyes. This study aims to analyze cancer risk by site among patients diagnosed with SjS using a Lithuanian population-based dataset.

Methods: The study cohort comprised all patients with an initial entry of Sjögren's syndrome (International Classification of Diseases Australian modification, ICD-10-AM diagnosis code M35.0) in the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) database, with the record of at least one prescription for antirheumatic medications in the NHIF database, recorded between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2019. To determine cancer incidence within the cohort, we linked SjS records to the Lithuanian National Cancer Registry, incorporating data from the beginning of 2012 up to 31 December 2019, using personal identification numbers assigned to all Lithuanian citizens.

Results: In total, 29 males and 280 females diagnosed with SjS were included in the final analysis. The study found an increased risk of several cancers among female patients diagnosed with SjS. Notably, there was a statistically significant higher incidence rate of non-melanoma skin cancer (SIR 3.20, 95% CI [1.52-6.71]) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (SIR 33.11, 95% CI [17.23-63.64]). Overall, the incidence of all cancers combined was also elevated (SIR 2.11, 95% CI [1.44-3.07]).

Conclusions: Our study shows that there is a statistically significant increased risk of non-melanoma skin cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma among female patients diagnosed with Sjögren's syndrome compared to the general Lithuanian population. Key Points • The study found an increased risk of melanoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma among female patients diagnosed with SjS. • The incidence of all cancers among female patients diagnosed with SjS was elevated. • There was an increased SIR for cancer diagnosis among patients exposed to bDMARDs during the follow-up period compared to those not exposed.

Keywords: Autoimmune disease; Non-Hodgkin lymphoma; Non-melanoma skin cancer; Sjögren’s syndrome.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethical approval: All procedures involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Vilnius regional bioethics committee approval was received to conduct the trial (number 158200–17-958–462 on 14 th of June, 2021). Consent to participate: Due to the retrospective nature of the study, the Vilnius regional bioethics committee waived the need of obtaining informed consent (number 158200–17-958–462 on 14 th of June, 2021). Disclosures: None. Patient and public involvement statement: Patients or the public were not involved in our research’s design, conduct, reporting, or dissemination plans.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Brito-Zerón P, Baldini C, Bootsma H et al (2016) Sjögren syndrome. Nat Rev Dis Primer 2:16047. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrdp.2016.47 - DOI
    1. Carsons SE, Patel BC (2023) Sjogren syndrome. In: StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing, Treasure Island (FL)
    1. Retamozo S, Brito-Zerón P, Ramos-Casals M (2019) Prognostic markers of lymphoma development in primary Sjögren syndrome. Lupus 28(8):923–936. https://doi.org/10.1177/0961203319857132
    1. Igoe A, Merjanah S, Scofield RH (2020) Sjögren syndrome and cancer. Rheum Dis Clin North Am 46(3):513–532. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rdc.2020.05.004 - DOI
    1. Zhong H, Liu S, Wang Y et al (2022) Primary Sjögren’s syndrome is associated with increased risk of malignancies besides lymphoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Autoimmun Rev 21(5):103084. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autrev.2022.103084 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources