Lupus Erythematosus: Consequential Diseases

The following are the most important diseases or complications that may be contributed to by lupus erythematosus (LE):

Respiratory system (J00-J99)

ARDS (adult respiratory distress syndrome; shock lung).
Interstitial fibrosis – connective tissue proliferation in the lungs.
Pulmonary fibrosis
Pleural effusion – effusion in the gap between the pleura of the lung and the pleura of the ribs.
Pleurisy, dry or moist
Pneumonia (lupus pneumonia; pneumonia).
Pulmorenal syndrome – combination of renal and pulmonary vasculitis (inflammation of the (mostly) arterial blood vessels in the kidneys and lungs) including necrotizing extracapillary proliferative glomerulonephritis (inflammation of the glomeruli (renal corpuscles) of the kidneys)
Shrinking-lung syndromes (lung shrinkage).

Eyes and eye appendages (H00-H59).

Keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) – inflammation of the ocular conjunctiva associated with decreased tear secretion and keratitis (mild form: 30-60%).
Episcleritis – inflammation of the connective tissue layer of the liver skin (2-10%).

Blood, blood-forming organs – immune system (D50-D90).

Agranulocytosis – most severe form of granulocytopenia (decrease in neutrophil granulocytes/white blood cell group); decrease in granulocytes to below 500 cells/µl; in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) [rare].

Infectious and parasitic diseases (A00-B99).

Liver, gallbladder, and bile ducts-pancreas (pancreas) (K70-K77; K80-K87).

Autoimmune hepatitis (lupoid hepatitis).
Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC, synonyms: nonpurulent destructive cholangitis; formerly primary biliary cirrhosis) – relatively rare autoimmune disease of the liver (affects women in about 90% of cases); begins primarily biliary, i.e., at the intra- and extrahepatic (“inside and outside the liver”) bile ducts, which are destroyed by inflammation (= chronic nonpurulent destructive cholangitis). In the longer course, the inflammation spreads to the entire liver tissue and eventually leads to scarring and even cirrhosis; detection of antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA); PBC is frequently associated with autoimmune diseases (autoimmune thyroiditis, polymyositis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), progressive systemic sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis); Associated with ulcerative colitis (inflammatory bowel disease) in 80% of cases; long-term risk of cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC; bile duct carcinoma, bile duct cancer) is 7-15%.

Musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (M00-M99).

Hand deformities
Ischemic bone necrosis – destruction of bone tissue.
Sicca syndrome – syndrome in which the glands have insufficient function; leads mainly to dry eyes and dry mucous membranes.
Transition of subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus/discoid lupus erythematosus to systemic lupus erythematosus.

Neoplasms – tumor diseases (C00-D48).

Psyche – nervous system (F00-F99; G00-G99).

Symptoms and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings not elsewhere classified (R00-R99).

Pulmonary hemorrhage
Fatigue – is associated with depression, anxiety, low health-related quality of life, and low levels of physical activity

Genitourinary system (kidneys, urinary tract – sex organs) (N00-N99).

Lupus nephritis (approximately 50-60% of all patients with SLE).
Nephrotic syndrome – collective term for symptoms that occur in various diseases of the glomerulus (renal corpuscles); the symptoms are proteinuria (increased excretion of protein in the urine) with a protein loss of more than 1 g/m²/body surface/d; hypoproteinemia, peripheral edema due to hypalbuminemia of < 2.5 g/dl in serum, hyperlipoproteinemia (lipid metabolism disorder)
Renal failure
Terminal renal failure (permanent failure of renal function) with dialysis requirement.

Predictors (predictive values) of cardiovascular events

The following are the major predictors of cardiovascular events (such as acute myocardial infarction/heart attack and apoplexy/stroke):