Although lupus can develop in people with no family history of lupus, there are often other autoimmune diseases in some family members. People of African, Asian, Pacific Island, Hispanic/Latino, Native American or Native Hawaiian descent have a greater risk of developing lupus, which may be related to genes.
Lupus is not a hereditary condition.
SLE and other autoimmune disorders tend to run in families, but the inheritance pattern is usually unknown. People may inherit a gene variation that increases or decreases the risk of SLE, but in most cases do not inherit the condition itself.
African-American and Hispanic women are more likely to have severe forms of lupus. Family history: Relatives of people with lupus have a greater chance of developing lupus. Only about 2 percent of children whose mothers have lupus will develop it.
In 20% of people who have lupus, a parent or sibling already has lupus or develops it later. About 5% of children born to a parent with lupus will develop the disease. Even in people with no lupus in their family history, other autoimmune diseases are more likely.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sjögren's syndrome (SS) may coexist, and they are chronic complex disorders, with an autoimmune background, multifactorial etiology, multiple circulating autoantibodies, and variable prognosis.
Age. Although lupus affects people of all ages, it's most often diagnosed between the ages of 15 and 45.
Studies suggest that there is an increased risk of developing lupus if a family member has been diagnosed. The majority of lupus cases that develop are referred to as sporadic, which means no known relative has the disease.
Symptoms and diagnosis occur most often between the ages of 15 and 44. Symptoms of lupus will occur before age 18 in only 15 percent of the people who are later diagnosed with the disease.
The anti-double stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) tests are used to help diagnose and monitor lupus, also called systemic lupus erythematosus or SLE, a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disorder in which the immune system mistakenly targets the body's own cells and tissues.
Kidneys About one half of people with lupus experience kidney involvement, and the kidney has become the most extensively studied organ affected by lupus.
Lupus affects more women than men. Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that affects more women than men. If you have lupus, your risk is higher for other health problems that are common in women, such as heart disease and osteoporosis.
Hormones and Environmental Factors
Women are 9 times more likely than men to develop lupus. This phenomenon can be explained by sex hormones and the resulting relative strengths of the female and male immune systems.
The disease tends to occur in families. Siblings of SLE patients have a risk of disease of about 2%. However, even identical twins with SLE are concordant for disease in only 25% of cases and are therefore discordant (ie, one twin has SLE and one does not) in about 75% of cases.
Although doctors haven't proven that stress is a direct cause of lupus, it's known to trigger flare-ups in people who already have the disease. Stressful events that can make symptoms worse include: A death in the family. Divorce.
Prevention Tips
Exposure to UV rays from sunlight and other light sources can trigger flares in many people with lupus. Staying out of the sun between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., applying sunscreen every day, and wearing sun-protective clothing can prevent UV rays from triggering a lupus flare.
While the environmental elements that can trigger lupus and cause flares aren't fully known, the most commonly cited are ultraviolet light (UVA and UVB); infections (including the effects of the Epstein-Barr virus), and exposure to silica dust in agricultural or industrial settings.
The first symptoms of lupus usually occur somewhere between the teen years and the 30s and may be mild, severe, sporadic, or continual. Common general symptoms include fatigue, fever, and hair loss. Lupus can also affect individual organs and body parts, such as the skin, kidneys, and joints.
How is lupus diagnosed? Lupus can be hard to diagnose because it has many symptoms that are often mistaken for symptoms of other diseases. Many people have lupus for a while before they find out they have it.
For some people, living with and managing lupus can cause weight gain. Weight gain may also lead to worsening lupus symptoms and complications associated with obesity. Some potential causes of weight gain that relate to lupus may include: being a side effect of medications such as corticosteroids.
Lupus is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease with a wide range of clinical presentations resulting from its effect on multiple organ systems. There are four main types of lupus: neonatal, discoid, drug-induced, and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the type that affects the majority of patients.
Jobs that require outdoor work or prolonged exposure to sunlight, such as farming, landscaping, or lifeguarding, may not be ideal for people with lupus. Jobs with exposure to chemicals: Some people with lupus may have sensitivities to certain chemicals or toxins, which can exacerbate their symptoms or trigger flares.