New Sjogren's Classification Criteria

Thanks to Jazzcat, authoress of Vivre Avec Le Syndrome De Sjogren, for tipping me off to the following press release from the National Institutes of Health:


New classification criteria released for research on Sjogren's Syndrome
NIH-supported alliance validates classification criteria for condition based on objective tests


An international team of researchers released new classification criteria for the common autoimmune condition Sjogren’s syndrome. Classification criteria are the consensus opinion of a group of experts that researchers use in clinical studies to confirm a previous diagnosis and/or subclassify patients who have the same type of a given condition. The new guidelines appear in the April issue of the journal Arthritis Care & Research........
.......The new criteria come from the Sjogren's International Collaborative Clinical Alliance, or SICCA. The work was supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), with support from the National Eye Institute and the Office for Research on Women’s Health. All are part of the National Institutes of Health.


Importantly, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) voted to accept the SICCA criteria. This marks the first time that ACR has approved classification criteria for Sjogren’s syndrome and, in doing so, recognized the need for rheumatologists, ophthalmologists, and oral medicine practitioners to collaborate in research studies to diagnose the condition.

Collaboration in research? Yes! Sjogren's with it's multifaceted picture of symptoms definitely requires professionals from many specialties to participate in research studies, not to mention also collaborating in patient care.