Familial systemic lupus erythematosus

Abstract

Pedigrees were obtained from 340 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Of the 340 patients with SLE, 41 (12%) had affected relatives: 5 had 2 and 36 had 1 affected relative. Ten (30%) of the 33 male patients and 31 (10%) of the 307 female patients had relatives with SLE. Examination of the individual pedigrees included examples of possible autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive and sex-linked dominant and recessive inheritance. When all the pedigrees were considered as a group, multifactorial inheritance was suggested.