Study population characteristics
| Characteristic | pSS | Control | P values* |
| N=9 | N=8 | ||
| Age, mean (SD) | 38 (9) | 40 (4) | 0.6 |
| anti-SSA antibody positive, n (%) | 7 (78) | na | |
| anti-SSB antibody positive, n (%) | 6 (67) | na | |
| Disease duration in years, mean (SD) | 8 (7) | NA | |
| Smoking, n (%) | 3 (33) | 4 (50) | 0.8 |
| Pack years, mean (SD) | 0.7 (2) | 0.7 (1) | 0.4 |
| Numeric Rating Scale on dryness (0–10) | |||
| Eyes, mean (SD) | 7 (1) | 2 (2) | 0.001 |
| Mouth, mean (SD) | 7 (1) | 1 (2) | < 0.001 |
| Vagina, mean (SD) | 6 (2) | 1 (2) | 0.002 |
| Use of lubricants, n (%) | 5 (56) | 0 (0) | 0.05 |
| Dyspareunia, n (%) | 9 (100) | 2 (25) | 0.01 |
| Vaginal Health Index† total score, mean (SD) | 19 (3) | 23 (2) | 0.02 |
| pH posterior fornix, mean (SD) | 4.6 (0.7) | 4.7 (0.5) | 0.6 |
| Current medication | |||
| Oral contraceptives, n (%) | 6 (67) | 3 (38) | 0.5 |
| Current NSAIDs, n (%) | 2 (22) | 0 (0) | 0.5 |
| ESSDAI—total, mean (SD) | 6 (3) | NA | |
| ESSPRI—dryness, mean (SD) | 6 (1) | NA | |
| ESSPRI—fatigue, mean (SD) | 6 (3) | NA | |
| ESSPRI—pain, mean (SD) | 3 (3) | NA | |
| ESSPRI—total, mean (SD) | 5 (2) | NA | |
| Reason for laparoscopic procedure in controls | |||
| BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, n | NA | 6 | |
| Refertilisation, n | NA | 2 | |
| Mucous cyst of the adnex, n | NA | 1 | |
Bold values indicate a p value of 0.5 or lower.
*Vaginal Health Index (VHI) scoring system: see online supplementary figure s1.
†χ² test and Wilcoxon rank sum test were used for categorical and numerical data, respectively.
ESSPRI, EULAR Sjögren’s syndrome patient-reported index; NA, not applicable; na, not assessed; NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; pSS, primary Sjögren’s syndrome; SSA, Sjögren's syndrome antigen A; SSB, Sjögren's syndrome antigen B; SSDAI, EULAR Sjögren’s syndrome disease activity index.