The prevalence of Sjogren's syndrome

The prevalence of Sjogren's syndrome

When I mentioned some statistics on Facebook recently about Sjogren's it caused much controversy with over one hundred comments. I thought it would be useful to gather some of the statistics about Sjogren's syndrome here all in one place. Of course, I have included the sources so you know they are reliable. 

Epidemiology is the scientific, systematic, and data-driven study of the distribution of something and it includes the frequency and the prevalence

To describe how often a disease or another health event occurs in a population, different measures of disease frequency can be used. The prevalence reflects the number of existing cases of a disease. - Measures of disease frequency: prevalence and incidence.

Estimates of the occurrence of Sjogren's syndrome (SS) vary widely, depending upon the specific classification criteria, the study design, and the population examined. For example, are they looking at just primary Sjogren's or all people with Sjogren's? You can see this from the variety of statistics below. 


It was estimated that in 2018 there were around 2.3 million people worldwide living with Sjögren’s syndrome. This number is predicted to increase to 2.5 million by the year 2027. - Statista


Internationally, comparative studies between different ethnic groups have suggested that Sjögren syndrome is a homogeneous disease that occurs worldwide with similar prevalence and affects 1-2 million people. - Medscape March 4, 2021


The research team uses resources from the Rochester Epidemiology Project to understand the prevalence of Sjogren's syndrome in the general population worldwide, as previous estimates vary greatly. By examining data from a 40-year period (1976-2016), the team has found that the disease affects 0.02 to 0.1 percent of the adult population, with a progressive increase of the rate of new cases over the last four decades. - Mayo Clinic, Center for Immunology and Immune Therapies


The prevalence rate of Sjogren’s syndrome is estimated to be 0.1 to 4% of the global population. The major symptoms of Sjögren’s syndrome are dryness in eyes and mouth followed by joint pain, swollen salivary glands and others. - DataBridge Market Research.


Primary Sjögren's syndrome is a chronic, systemic autoimmune disease. It is the second most common rheumatic autoimmune disorder, affecting 0.7% of European Americans and up to 1% of people globally. ~ Drs Chowdhury F, Tappuni A and Bombardieri M (2021)


Sjogren syndrome is far from a rare disorder with an incidence approaching approximately one-half of that of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or affecting 0.5% to 1.0% of the population.

Between 400,000 and 3.1 million adults have Sjögren's syndrome. - Sjogren Syndrome

 Winthrop University Hospital;  University of Utah. November 2021. 


Sjogren’s syndrome is the third most common rheumatic autoimmune disorder, behind only rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.  It is most common amongst females, who account for 90% of all Sjogren Syndrome cases, and typically affects individuals between 40 and 60. 200K to 3M US cases per year. Few studies report the incidence of the syndrome varies between 3 and 6 per 100,000 per year. - Rare Genomics Institute 2021.


Sjögren syndrome is a relatively common disorder; it occurs in 0.1 to 1 percent of the population. It is difficult to determine the exact prevalence because the characteristic features of this disorder, dry eyes and dry mouth, can also be caused by many other conditions. - MedlinePlus NIH National Library of Medicine December 2021. 


Despite a prevalence ranging between 1% and 3% of the general population, more than 50% of Sjogren's patients has not received a correct diagnosis and approximately 30% of patients presenting other autoimmune diseases suffered from pSS. - Sjögren's syndrome, the old and the new. Peri Y, Agmon-Levin N, Theodor E, Shoenfeld Y (2012)


A 2015 meta-analysis of epidemiological studies in primary SS, computed an overall prevalence of 60.82 per 100,000 inhabitants worldwide or 1 person in 1,644. Based on these results, pSS should no longer be considered a “rare disease”. The European Commission on Public Health defines a rare disease as a condition with prevalence below 1 in 2,000 persons. - Prevalence of Sjögren’s syndrome in the general adult population in Spain: estimating the proportion of undiagnosed cases. Sci Rep 10, 10627 (2020).

                                   The prevalence of Sjogren's syndrome estimates to 2029

DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

UNITED KINGDOM:

Sjögren’s Syndrome is the UK’s second most common autoimmune rheumatic disease, yet the condition remains under recognised and frequently under treated. It does not command a high profile within the medical profession, and the general public is largely unaware of the problems faced by sufferers. In reality, Sjögren’s Syndrome can be a debilitating, distressing and miserable condition.  It affects approximately 0.6% of adults in the UK, with a mean age of 50 years. (BSSA British Sjogren's Syndrome Association) PDF

Arthritis Research UK estimates that there may be up to half a million people in the United Kingdom who have Sjögren's syndrome. (1 Nov 2021)


UNITED STATES:

Sjögren's affects nearly 4 million Americans and is the 2nd most common rheumatic autoimmune disease. - Sjögren's Foundation

Sjögren's syndrome affects 1 - 4 million people in the United States and occurs in all races and ethnicities. - NIH July 2018

In the United States, Sjögren syndrome is estimated to be the second most common rheumatologic disorder, behind SLE. Sjögren syndrome affects 0.1-4% of the population. - Medscape March 4, 2021


CANADA
An estimated 1% of Canadians, 90% of whom are women live with Sjögren’s yet it is often misdiagnosed, under-recognized and under-treated. - The Sjögren's Society of Canada

COLOMBIA: A cross-sectional study during the years 2012 to 2016 in Colombia reported 58,680 cases of Sjögren's syndrome. This was a prevalence similar to that reported in countries of the region such as Brazil (0.17%) and Argentina (0.17%). - Sjögren's syndrome in Colombia, based on information from the Official Ministry of Health Registry


SPAIN: The estimated prevalence of SS (including primary and secondary forms) in the adult population in Spain was 0.33% in this study. Extrapolating to the entire population of the country aged 20 years or older (around 37.7 millions) there would be approximately 125,000 cases of SS in Spain. Based on these results, SS cannot be considered a rare disease. Nature article.


The Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center (GARD) states that Sjogren's syndrome is NOT a rare disease.


I can find no information at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)


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