Scientists still haven’t determined what causes lupus, but they believe that a combination of genes, environmental exposure, and other unknown risk factors contribute to it. Lupus disproportionally affects young women, and is more common in certain ethnic groups like African-Americans and Asians. In fact, lupus can affect nearly every part of the body. What’s known is that lupus is a chronic disease in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself, causing inflammation that can affect multiple organs and tissues. “Even among experts we don’t always see eye to eye on what lupus is,” says Peter Izmirly, MD, director of inpatient rheumatology at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City and co-director of the New York University Hospital for Joint Diseases Lupus Center. When it comes to the autoimmune disease lupus, there are so many different symptoms, which can affect so many different parts of the body, that it can take months or years for someone to receive the correct diagnosis. Some diseases are easy to diagnose, while others require more medical sleuthing - and the symptoms are the clues that doctors investigate.
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