Sjogren's syndrome (SS) is a common chronic systemic inflammatory disease but little is know about how SS affects the quality of life for these patients. The purpose of the study is to develop and assess methods for measuring the effects of SS on patient's quality of life.
The specific aims are: 1) develop a battery of instruments to assess quality of life in SS patients; 2) Update an existing data base on 220 patients with a diagnosis of SS; 3) Administer questionnaires to SS patients; 4) Evaluate the psychometric properties of instruments to assess quality of life; 5) Analyze the relationship between quality of life indicators, laboratory measures and clinical indicators of disease severity and disease activity. Three types of variables will be assessed, clinical, laboratory, and quality of life measures. 1) Clinical Assessments: glandular swelling, mucosal dryness, candida, mucosal ulceration, synovitis, Raynaud's phenomenon, pulmonary, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal disease, vaginal dryness, ocular dryness and oral dryness; 2) Laboratory Assessments: Autoantibody profile, immunoglobulin levels. A lip biopsy will be required for all patients to be included in the study. 3) Quality of Life Assessments: Quality of life consists of three dimensions, symptoms assessments, social functioning and psychological well-being. Data analysis will be descriptive to characterize the clinical, laboratory and psychosocial attributes of SS patients. Bivariate and multivariate techniques will be used to assess the associations among these dimensions of the experience of SS and to determine whether measures of inflammation differentiate impacts on quality of life.
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