Hospitalizations for infections in primary Sjögren’s syndrome patients: a nationwide incidence study : Severe infections in Sjögren’s syndrome

Abstract

Background: Primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) is an autoimmune disease with increased risk of infections. Here, we assessed whether pSS patients were at higher risk of hospitalization for community and opportunistic infections. Methods: We selected newly hospitalized pSS patients between 2011 and 2018, through a nationwide population-based retrospective study using the French Health insurance database. We compared the incidence of hospitalization for several types of infections (according to International Classification for Disease codes, ICD-10) between pSS patients and an age- and sex-matched (1:10) hospitalized control group. We calculated adjusted Hazard Ratios (aHR, 95% CI) adjusted on socio-economic status, past cardiovascular or lung diseases and blood malignancies factors. Results: We compared 25 661 pSS patients with 252 543 matched patients. The incidence of hospitalizations for a first community infection was increased in pSS patients [aHR of 1.29 (1.22–1.31), p