Systemic lupus erythematosus and ulcerative colitis

Abstract

Dear Sir,Autoimmune diseases tend to co-exist; 1-4 however, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are rarely described together and a systematic review of the medical literature has seldom been undertaken. The estimated prevalence of UC in SLE patients is around 0.4%. 1 Coexistence of SLE and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is difficult to diagnose because both share clinical features 1-6 and also because some medications used in IBD may cause drug-induced lupus. 7 We reviewed all cases of SLE/ UC association published in the MEDLINE, from 1950 to 2008. We also report four patients with SLE and UC, after a retrospective review of the case histories of 485 SLE patients, from our outpatient clinic.

Coexistence of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

“…Conversely, only 2% healthy controls and 1.9% CD patients had at least one autoimmune disorder [4,22,23]. The rate of concurrent SLE and UC has been reported to be 0%-0.5% [22], whereas the incidence of UC in SLE patients is approximately 0.4% (2/520) [2,3,12,23].…”

“…In the 13 reported cases of concomitant SLE and UC, the time interval between the development of SLE and CD was 0-14 years. In addition, there was no subsequent relapse of SLE when UC developed after SLE [3]. Serious organ involvement was rarely seen [3].…”

“…In addition, there was no subsequent relapse of SLE when UC developed after SLE [3]. Serious organ involvement was rarely seen [3].…”

“…Autoimmune diseases often coexist [3], and SLE often exists in combination with other collagen disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and Sjögren's syndrome [4]; however, cases of concomitant SLE and IBD are rare [3]. As a result, there are few systematic literature reviews of concomitant SLE and IBD [3,5].…”

Coexistence of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Primary Biliary Cirrhosis

“…Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that often coexists with other collagen disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Sjögren's syndrome (SjS) [1,2]; however, cases of concomitant SLE and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) are rare [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. SLE is a multisystem autoimmune disease that results from a combination of genetic, environmental, and hormonal factors.…”