Sjögren ’ – This study shows that a low level of the

This study shows that a low level of the anti-inflammatory sex hormone DHEA is associated with symptoms of primary Sjögren’s syndrome and that dry mouth symptoms decrease during DHEA treatment. Up to 4 million people live with Sjögren’s disease, named after Swedish ophthalmologist Henrik Sjögren, who described the symptoms in 1933. Sjögren syndrome is not only difficult to pronounce, but also an autoimmune disease whose unpredictable nature makes diagnosis and treatment difficult. Primary Sjögren syndrome tends to be more aggressive and occurs in people who do not have other autoimmune diseases. Hormones – Because Sjögren syndrome has such a significant female bias, genetic composition is an intuitive area of research. Secondary Sjögren’s disease occurs in those who already have another autoimmune disease, the most common being scleroderma, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. In patients with Sjögren syndrome, IBS was found to affect 39-65% of patients, compared with 9-15% in healthy controls. As we can see in our series on autoimmune diseases, almost all diseases have a genetic component and that of Sjögren is no different.