Sjögren’s Syndrome News

SLACK Incorporated, publisher of Healio.com, is set to expand its series of web-first news magazines delivering unique peer-tested content. Healio Rheumatology will compile the most-read content from Healio.com based on website metrics, and distribute it in a print news magazine reaching 6,100 U.S. physicians, including the universe of U.S. rheumatologists.

The Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security met on Thursday, September 17 for a hearing on the implementation of biosimilar agents with Janet Woodcock, MD, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA, and among other questions about interchangeability and safety, some senators questioned the lack of action in the issuance of guidance documents.

The presence of elevated autoantibodies against carbamylated proteins may be associated with disease activity in patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome, according to a recently published study.

Hepatitis C virus immunoglobulin-G antibodies were detected in 8% to 13% of patients with Sjögren’s syndrome, depending on the classification criteria used, and in 45% of patients who met certain criteria, and rates were highest in patients with certain immunological profiles, according to researchers in Barcelona, Spain.

Patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome were at higher risk for hospitalization in the presence of hepatic involvement, vasculitis and high disease activity, according to recently published research.

Overlapping fibromyalgia may be present in 30% or more of patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome based on the American College of Rheumatology 2010 criteria, but only 19% of the same patients met 1990 criteria, according to the results of a study.

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus or Sjögren syndrome who also had autoimmune thrombocytopenia improved after taking Rituxan, according to recently published research.

Many patients with Sjögren's syndrome have additional autoimmune diseases, do not receive anti-rheumatic medication and about half are diagnosed by a physician other than a rheumatologist, according to the results of a retrospective study.

A study of patients with Sjögren’s syndrome revealed no clear markers, such as the presence of certain cytokines or chemokines, for fatigue experienced by patients, according to study data presented recently.

First-degree family members of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus were found to be at higher risk for developing it or other autoimmune diseases, according to recently published study findings.