Salivary gland ultrasound is associated with the presence of autoantibodies in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome: A Danish single-centre study

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether ultrasound findings of major salivary glands are correlated with serological markers, autoantibodies, patient- or doctor-reported disease activity in a Danish cohort of patients with primary Sjögren’s Syndrome (pSS). METHODS: In all, 49 patients at Odense University Hospital with pSS diagnosed according to the 2002 American-European Consensus Group (AECG) classification criteria were included. Patients were characterized using the EULAR Sjögren’s Syndrome Disease Activity Index (ESSDAI, score of systemic complications) and EULAR Sjögren’s Syndrome Patient Reported Index (ESSPRI), serologic markers, Schirmer’s test and salivary test. Salivary gland ultrasound (SGUS) was performed of the submandibular and parotid glands and scored according to the Outcome Measures in Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Trials (OMERACT) semi-quantitative scoring system. RESULTS: More patients with abnormal SGUS had antinuclear antibodies (ANA) (p = 0.002), anti-Ro52 (p = 0.001), anti-Ro60 (p<0.001), anti-La (p<0.001) and IgM-RF (p<0.001). Titers for ANA (p = 0.02) and anti-Ro52 (p = 0.03) were higher in patients with abnormal SGUS. Twenty-three of the pSS patients had no pathological findings on SGUS. There was no correlation between SGUS severity and ESSDAI- or ESSPRI-scores. CONCLUSIONS: Abnormal SGUS findings are associated with autoantibodies of high specificity for pSS but not with ESSDAI, ESSPRI or inflammatory markers.