Characteristics of patients with autoimmune disease overlap differ from patients with SLE alone

About 38% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus had a secondary autoimmune disease, and patients with a secondary autoimmune disease differed in age, sex, race and treatment methods, according to recently published research. Researchers studied data from 1,321 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) and/or antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) treated at the Barbara Volcker Center for Women and Rheumatic Disease in New York. Of these patients, 897 (68%) had SLE alone and 424 (32%) one of the four diagnoses combined with another autoimmune disease. Patients with non-autoimmune rheumatic illnesses, including fibromyalgia, gout, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, were not included.