The rate of pulmonary disease is high in individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus

What is it about?

What is the rate of pulnonary manifestations in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and how does it compare to the rate in the general population? Does the stage of disease matter? These are common questions clinicians and patients ask. All we know about non-infectious pulmonary disease in individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus comes from small and selected patient cohorts. We used Swedish register data to identify a representative cohort of individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus, both newly-diagnosed and with established disease. In those individuals as well as in individuals from the general population, we estimated the rate of pulmonary manifestations. 14 in 1000 individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus will develop a pulmonary manifestation irrespective of the stage of their disease. This rate is 6-times higher than the rate we observe in the general population. For interstitial lung disease (a disease that affects the connective tissue resulting in fibrosis and function decline), the rate in systemic lupus erythematosus is 19-fold higher than in the general population.

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Photo by Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash

Photo by Robina Weermeijer on Unsplash

Why is it important?

We used data from a large and representative cohort of individuals with systemic lupus erythematosus and general population comparators. Our findings highlight the need for heightened suspicion of lung disease by caring physicians even when the patients are at the early stages of their disease.