Recognizing the significance of Sjögren's disease as a serious and systemic autoimmune disease and expressing support for the designation of April 2025 as "Sjögren's Awareness Month".
This House Resolution (H. Res. 245) recognizes Sjögren's disease as a serious, systemic autoimmune condition and expresses support for designating April 2025 as “Sjögren's Awareness Month.” The resolution highlights the disease’s prevalence (up to about 4 million U.S. adults), its wide-reaching symptoms (fatigue, dryness affecting multiple body parts, pain), and potential complications (pain, organ involvement, neuropathies, cognitive issues, certain cancers, and fetal heartblock in babies of affected mothers). It notes challenges in diagnosis, the high cost of management, and the need for broader awareness among physicians and in underserved communities. The resolution also urges federal agencies to expand and improve research, identify biomarkers, better quantify and track patients, update and disseminate literature to health providers, and increase awareness in underserved areas.
Key Points
- 1Recognizes Sjögren's disease as a serious, systemic autoimmune disease and notes its significant health burden, including wide-ranging symptoms and possible complications.
- 2Encourages the Secretary of Health and Human Services and other federal agencies to expand and enhance research on Sjögren's through the Office of Autoimmune Disease Research.
- 3Calls for improving understanding of disease causes and identifying biomarkers to aid diagnosis, patient stratification, disease management, and development of targeted therapies.
- 4Urges better quantification and tracking of the number of Sjögren's patients, addressing underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis, and updating literature to increase provider awareness.
- 5Supports designating April 2025 as “Sjögren's Awareness Month” and promoting awareness and education in underserved communities to improve diagnosis and care.