Ocular staining score in patients diagnosed with Sjögren syndrome in a health institution in Medellín, Colombia

Introduction: Sjögren's syndrome is an autoimmune disease associated with multiple genetic and environmental factors. It mainly affects the salivary and lacrimal glands with cellular infiltration leading to dry eye symptoms, with keratoconjunctivitis sicca and its complications often being described. Its classification criteria have changed over the years, due to the diversity in the organs involved and clinical spectrum of the disease. Today, there are clinical and para-clinical parameters for its identification. One of these is the ocular staining score (OSS), standardised from the SICCA cohort. Objective: To describe the findings in the ocular evaluation, the results of the tests of the OSS, and the clinical characteristics of the classification criteria in patients with Sjögren syndrome in the outpatient service of Rheumatology Outpatient Department a university hospital in north-western Colombia. Methods: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted. The characteristics of the Sjögren syndrome classification criteria were described, including the OSS score for one year. Clinical tests and standardised ocular stains were performed, evaluating characteristics of the ocular surface, tear production, and lissamine green and fluorescein stains on the conjunctiva and cornea, assigning, according to the findings, a score to each parameter in order to assess positivity according to the classification standard. The qualitative variables were expressed by means of absolute and relative frequencies, and the quantitative ones as the median and interquartile range (P₂₅-P₇₅), according to the distribution of the data. Epidat statistical package, version 4.2, was used. Results: A total of 28 patients were included. Dry eye symptoms were present in 89.2%, 96.4% had positive findings in the eye examination, and 78.5% had a score on the OSS according to the classification criteria. The median OSS was 6.14, and anti-Ro antibodies were positive in 57.1%. Conclusion: Eye evaluation by objective tests is a simple and reproducible method in patients with Sjögren's syndrome. The most affected indices were those of a decrease in tear production. The ocular stains did not have a direct relationship with the positivity of antibodies, nor rheumatoid factor.