[Comparative study of rheumatoid polyarthritis with and without the Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome. 54 cases]

Clinical, biological and evolutive profiles of rheumatoid polyarthritis (RP) associated or not with a Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome (GSS) were compared in two series of 27 patients matched according sex and age, and recruited among 158 patients examined during a period of 36 months. The GSS was defined by the presence, in addition to RP, of xerophthalmia (Schirmer and Rose Bengal tests were positive) and/or salivary glands disorders (histological abnormalities at stages III or IV of Chisholm classification). The evolution of RP and the importance of articular or extra-articular involvement of the disease are identical in both groups. Biologically, the prevalence of agglutinating rheumatoid factors, antinuclear antibodies and specific organ antibodies, is not different from one group to the other. Only the serum levels of gammaglobulins and circulating immune complexes are higher in the presence of a GSS. Finally, it was not necessary to resort more often to steroid therapy and/or immunosuppressors for RP with GSS than for isolated RP. In summary, in the same age group and same sex, RP associated to a GSS do not appear to have a fundamentally different profile, contrary to what might have been suggested by previous studies.