Studies on the etiology and therapy of Sjögren's sydrome Part 2. Effects of steroid hormone on patients with Sjögren's syndrome without associated diseases

The effect of prednisolone (PSL) on clinical symptoms and laboratory parameters was studied in nineteen patients with Sjögren's syndrome (SjS) without associated diseases (SjS alone). The mean initial dose of PSL was 11.7±13.0 mg/day (M±SD), and the mean maintenance dose was 6.1±3.9 mg/day. The mean duration of the treatment was 25.2±14.1 months. Fever, polyarthralgia, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and hypergamma-globlinemia were improved by the PSL treatment. However, no effect of PSL on the ocular and oral sicca symptoms including parotid enlargements, function of the exocrine glands and sialographical findings of parotid glands was observed. Neither Raynaud's phenomenon nor various autoantibodies detected in patients' sera was affected by this treatment.