Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) is commonly mistaken as another rheumatologic condition. For a study, researchers sought to create an SS screening questionnaire for rheumatology practices. The Sjögren’s Syndrome Screening Questionnaire (SSSQ) was produced by secondary data analysis from 974 people referred to the Sjögren’s International Collaborative Clinical Alliance (SICCA) trial by rheumatologists. Participants were asked 88 questions on their symptoms, medical history, and demographics. In addition, they were subjected to ophthalmic, dental, and serologic examinations before being diagnosed as SS or non-SS according to the 2016 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism categorization criteria. Finally, investigators used univariate and multivariate logistic regression to find the most discriminative questions of SS, from which they calculated a patient’s likelihood of SS (“SSSQ score”).
In the multivariate analysis, 5 items were substantially discriminative of SS (P<0.05): Is it possible to eat a cracker without drinking a fluid/liquid? (no: odds ratio [OR], 1.39; 95% CI, 1.06–1.82]); How would you rate your overall dental and oral health? (fair/poor: OR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.04–2.75); Have you encountered ripping in the recent week? (never: OR, 2.26; 95% CI, 1.23–4.34); Do you have the ability to create tears? (no: OR, 1.62; 95% confidence interval, 1.12–2.37); and Do you now smoke cigarettes? (no: OR, 2.83; 95% CI, 1.69–4.91). SSSQ score 7 (possible range, 0–11) identified SS patients from non-SS patients with 64% sensitivity and 58% specificity (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.65). The SSSQ was a brief 5-item questionnaire designed to screen for SS in clinical practice, potentially reducing diagnostic delays.
