Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32093745›Full record

Observational studyArthritis research & therapy2020

Unstimulated whole saliva flow for diagnosis of primary Sjögren's syndrome: time to revisit the threshold?

Valentin Lacombe, Carole Lacout, Pierre Lozac'h, Alaa Ghali, Aline Gury, Christian Lavigne, Geoffrey Urbanski

Open access · goldAbstract readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in Arthritis research & therapy, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
20citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.2field-weighted citation impact, top 12% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.

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  14. Targeted saliva metabolomics in Sjögren's syndrome.Clinics (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2024
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Valentin LacombeDepartment of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, 4 rue Larrey, 49000, Angers, France.
Carole LacoutDepartment of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, 4 rue Larrey, 49000, Angers, France.
Pierre Lozac'hDepartment of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, 4 rue Larrey, 49000, Angers, France.
Alaa GhaliDepartment of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, 4 rue Larrey, 49000, Angers, France.
Aline GuryDepartment of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, 4 rue Larrey, 49000, Angers, France.
Christian LavigneDepartment of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, 4 rue Larrey, 49000, Angers, France.
Geoffrey UrbanskiDepartment of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, 4 rue Larrey, 49000, Angers, France. urbanskigeoffrey@gmail.com.ORCID 0000-0001-5719-8423
Hôpital Larrey · FR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundUnstimulated whole saliva (UWS) flow rate is one of the ACR/EULAR 2016 criteria for primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). With a single threshold of ≤ 0.1 mL/min, UWS flow does not take into account the age- and sex-related physiological variations. Furthermore, it has a low sensitivity for the diagnosis of pSS (about 50%), contrary to the screening test for xerophthalmia, Schirmer's test (sensitivity of about 70%). We aimed to identify UWS thresholds allowing better performances for a screening test for pSS comparable to Schirmer's test, and considering age- and sex-related variations.

methodsA prospective cohort of 185 patients with oral and/or ocular dryness was classified into 3 groups: men, women < 50 (< 50 years old), and women ≥ 50 (≥ 50 years old). The diagnostic performances of UWS flow rate in these groups were compared in terms of sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and ROC curves. The identification of thresholds that optimize diagnostic performances was carried out using Youden's index.

resultsThe diagnostic performances of UWS flow rate varied according to age and sex. UWS had poor diagnostic performances whatever the threshold in the women ≥ 50 group. The threshold of 0.2 mL/min had a sensitivity of ≥ 70% and a specificity of ≥ 50% in both men and women < 50 groups. In the whole population and compared to the current cutoff, a threshold of 0.2 mL/min increased sensitivity (+ 19.8%) and positive (+ 2.3%) and negative (+ 7.0%) predictive values, with a better specificity (65.2%) than Schirmer's test.

conclusionFor objective assessment of xerostomia, raising the threshold of the UWS flow rate to 0.2 mL/min would optimize its screening performances for pSS.

Indexed as

SalivaAdultAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedReference ValuesSensitivity and SpecificitySjogren's SyndromeXerostomiaAge groupsClassificationSalivaSexSjögren’s syndromeXerostomia

Identifiers

PMID32093745
PMCPMC7041275
OpenAlexW3011702628

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.