Arthritis” is a broad term used to describe inflammation of the joints. There are many subsets of arthritis, but the arthritis seen in lupus closely resembles rheumatoid arthritis.

Lupus can affect the cardiovascular system, which includes your heart and blood vessels. In fact, cardiovascular disease, not lupus itself, is the number one cause of death in people with SLE (Lupus).

With autoimmune diseases such as Lupus, the immune system begins to recognize and attack “self.” In other words, the cells of the immune system begin to injure the body’s own tissues. This phenomenon is similar to “friendly fire” and can cause permanent scarring that ultimately jeopardizes the function of certain organs and systems in the body.

About one half of people with lupus experience kidney involvement.

About 50% of people with SLE will experience lung involvement during the course of their disease. Five main lung problems occur in lupus: pleuritis, acute lupus pneumonitis, chronic (fibrotic) lupus pneumonitis, pulmonary hypertension, and “shrinking lung” syndrome.

Most people with lupus experience some sort of skin involvement during the course of their disease. In fact, skin conditions comprise 4 of the 11 criteria used by the American College of Rheumatology for classifying lupus.

Lupus can affect both the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) and the peripheral nervous system. Lupus may attack the nervous system via antibodies that bind to nerve cells or the blood vessels that feed them, or by interrupting the blood flow to nerves.