Personality, depression and anxiety in primary Sjogren's syndrome

WHAT IS SJOGREN'S SYNDROME?

Sjogren’s is a chronic autoimmune, inflammatory disease which is recognised for symptoms of dryness and fatigue. It may also affect joints, lungs, gastrointestinal system, bladder and peripheral nerves.

PLOS ONE - Personality, depression and anxiety in primary Sjogren's syndrome - Association with sociodemographic factors and comorbidity.

Mood, sleeping and several neuro-psychologic domains such as cognition are affected by pSS. Specifically, difficulties with attention, focusing, memory and new learning are commonly reported problems. 
Moreover, the personality traits of pSS patients can potentially interact with the subjective dryness symptoms and treatment outcome. Psychological factors may influence the ability of patients to cope with fatigue and its consequences including negative cognitions such as catastrophizing, avoidance of psychical activity and lack of social support or overprotection.

OBJECTIVE:

Patients with primary Sjögren's Syndrome (pSS) have diminished health quality and fatigue, arthralgia along with dryness of the mouth and eyes have major impact on their psychological and social aspects of life. 

The purpose of this study was to determine psychological features of patients with pSS. 

We analyzed personality, depression and anxiety of patients with primary Sjögren's Syndrome (pSS) in comparison with patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and healthy controls (HC) and assessed their association with sociodemographic factors and comorbidity.

METHODS:

In 105 pSS patients (mean age 51.34 years, mean disease duration 5.98 years), 52 RA patients (mean age 51.37 years, mean disease duration 8.10 years) and 54 HC (mean age 51.35 years) clinical and sociodemographic characteristics were determined and results analyzed. 

At enrollment patients and controls completed the Revisited NEO Personality Inventory Five-Factor model (NEO-PI-R), the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale and the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS [Version 16.0]. The relative size of the effect was assessed based on standardized estimates of effect size (d).

RESULTS:

Patients with pSS, similarly to RA patients had higher scores of Neuroticism and lower scores of Extraversion and Openness for experience  compared to HC. 

There was no significant differences between pSS group and HC in the depression. However, patients with pSS had higher anxiety in comparison to HC.

CONCLUSIONS:

We confirmed that pSS patients have psychological profiles and levels of anxiety different to healthy subjects. 
In our study, patients with pSS were emotionally unstable, introverted, and more anxious than healthy controls. 
Education and satisfaction with family relationships were significant predictors for psychological characteristics of patients, independently of clinical diagnosis. 
The better understanding of personality dimensions in patients with pSS may provide adequate help by professionals in overcoming adaptation problems which have been observed in these patients.

See Full report on this study 

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SJOGREN'S:

• List of Sjogren's Syndrome Symptoms
• Increased prevalence of Sjogren's syndrome in high level chromium soils
• Study suggests future way to treat chronic eye problems and lymphoma in Sjogren's Syndrome.
• How Sjogren's is diagnosed

• Dry eye found in over 85% of Sjogren’s patients