Symptom-Based Cluster Analysis Categorizes Sjögren’s Disease Subtypes: An International Cohort Study Highlighting Disease Severity and Treatment Discordance

Although symptom relief is a critical aspect for successful drug development in Sjögren’s disease, patient experiences with Sjögren’s-related symptoms are understudied. This study from HIP Investigator Dr. Christie Bartels aimed to determine how pain, dryness, and fatigue, the cardinal symptoms of Sjögren’s disease, drive cluster phenotypes.

Using data from the Sjögren’s International Collaborative Clinical Alliance (SICCA) Registry and a Sjögren’s Foundation survey, they performed hierarchical clustering of symptoms by levels of dryness, fatigue, and pain. 4 symptom-based Sjögren’s clusters were identified and showed that symptom burden and immunomodulatory medication use do not correlate with Sjögren’s end-organ or laboratory abnormalities.