[Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome associated with dysthyroidism]

The occurrence of Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome in a context of dysthyroidism is not a chance happening, as is reflected by the 37% rate of incidence. Routine labial biopsy, carried out in 59 cases of primary hypothyroidism due to atrophic thyroiditis, 20 of Basedow's disease and 4 of Hashimoto thyroiditis identified Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome (3-4 Chisholm grade) in 3 of the 59 cases of hypothyroidism i.e. in 5 percent, and in one Basedow case out of 20, i.e. 5 percent. Using Kaplan's criteria, the incidence of Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome rises to 22 percent in hypothyroidism and 30 percent in Basedow's disease. Consequently, the incidence of Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome is higher in Basedow disease than in primary hypothyroidism. Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome is seen particularly in dysthyroidism involving manifest and all-round clinical signs. This association does not seem to result from one disease being caused by the other, but the outcome of the onset of entities to which a genetically determined context predisposes the subject, as is shown by the prevalence of HLA DRW3 and HLA B8 groupings in Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome, in primary hypothyroidism, in Basedow's disease and in Hashimoto's thyroiditis.