[Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome, connective tissue diseases and autoimmune pathology]

Each of the following conditions has a 4 to 6 percent frequency of association with the Gugerot-Sjögren syndrome: systemic lupus erythematous, scleroderma, autoimmune liver disease (simple biliary cirrhosis and chronic active hepatitis), and Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Association with a nodular periarteritis and a polymyositis is very much more unusual and should be discussed on account of the existence of myositis and the vascularity peculiar to the Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome. Very many true or supposedly autoimmune diseases have been reported in association with the Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome: mixed connectivity, atrophying polychondritis, Reynolds' syndrome (scleroderma plus simple biliary cirrhosis), thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, thyrotoxicosis of simple hypothyroidism, and total or partial lipodystrophy. The lacrymal and salivary condition is almost constant during systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, simple biliary cirrhosis and mixed connectivity. From the point of view of autoimmune pathology, the Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome might constitute either an autonomous condition when found in isolation or represent the exocrine glandular expression of a dysimmunitary disease with which it is associated.