What are the causes of dry syndrome?

  Dry syndrome is a diffuse connective tissue disease characterized by invasion of lacrimal glands, salivary glands and other exocrine glands with lymphocytic infiltration and specific autoantibodies.  The exact etiology and pathogenesis of dry syndrome are unknown, and most scholars believe that multiple factors such as infection, genetics and endocrine are involved in the occurrence and continuation of the disease. The prevalence is 0.5%~1.56% in adult women, and the ratio of men to women is 1:9~1:10. The disease can develop at any age, including children and adolescents, and the age of prevalence is 30~60 years old, accounting for about 90% of all cases.  The pathological state is mainly characterized by the involvement of exocrine glands composed of columnar epithelial cells. The salivary glands and lacrimal glands are represented by massive lymphocytic infiltration of the glandular interstitium, dilation and narrowing of the glandular ducts, and destruction and atrophy of the epithelial cells of the minor salivary glands. Similar lesions can involve other exocrine glands such as the skin, respiratory mucosa, gastrointestinal mucosa, vaginal mucosa, and internal organs with exocrine glandular structures such as the renal tubules, bile ducts, and pancreatic ducts. Damage to blood vessels is also a basic lesion of the disease, including small vessel walls and perivascular inflammatory cell infiltration.  Just because the onset of dry syndrome is insidious and the specific cause is unknown, clinical treatment is mainly based on alternative and symptomatic treatment.  Therefore, patients with dry syndrome should actively cooperate with the treatment plan of clinicians.