Causes of Sjogren’s Disease You Should Know

Posted on: Jun 24, 2025 | 3 mins | Written by: HDFC ERGO Team

Causes of Sjogren’s Disease You Should Know

Sjogren’s disease, an autoimmune ailment, is a condition where your immune system damages the moisture-producing glands in your body, especially in your eyes and mouth. Therefore, the most common signs of the disease are extreme dryness in the eyes and mouth. The secretion from your tear and salivary glands decreases severely in this condition. However, this disease can also impact the moisture glands in the nose, throat, digestive system and vagina.

Women over 40 are more prone to Sjogren’s disease, though the exact reason for this is not known until now. Read further to learn more about the causes of Sjogren’s disease and whether it can be treated.

Causes of Sjogren’s Disease

Before learning about the causes of Sjogren’s disease, you must know how the ailment is classified:

• Primary Sjogren’s disease –

Develops when the immune system mistakenly damages the moisture-producing glands in your body and not because of any other reason

• Secondary Sjogren’s disease –

Occurs as the result of some other health ailments

In the case of primary Sjogren’s disease, doctors haven’t identified any particular trigger, yet. They haven’t been able to understand why a person’s immune system starts damaging their own moisture glands.

However, there are causes that can be attributed to Secondary Sjogren’s disease. These are:

• Pre-existing autoimmune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriatic arthritis, etc.

• Pre-existing viral infections, such as hepatitis C, COVID-19, Epstein-Barr, cytomegalovirus and human T-lymphotropic virus

• Family history of Sjogren’s disease

Doctors conduct many diagnostic procedures like eye tests, blood tests, imaging tests and biopsies to confirm the diagnosis of Sjogren’s disease. Since the usual symptoms are dryness of the mouth and eyes, treatments include eye drops and medicines to improve tear and saliva production, control viral infections and manage the already existing autoimmune disorders. In a few cases, doctors perform a surgical procedure to close the tear ducts so that the tears are not drained from your eyes.

Conclusion

Sjogren’s disease can be managed properly when you diagnose the issue on time and follow the right treatment procedures, as well as make lifestyle changes. However, if you take long to diagnose or treat this condition, it can result in complications such as dental cavities, yeast infections and problems with vision and even damage to the lymph nodes, lungs, kidneys, liver and nerves.

Hence, when getting a health insurance online policy, check the terms to see if Sjogren’s disease diagnostic procedures and treatment are covered. This way, you don’t have to worry about medical costs when treating this disease.

Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purposes only. For more details, please refer to the policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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