Lupus, a dangerous disease that attacks young women

Systemic lupus erythematosus causes many complications, there is no complete cure, often in women 20-30 years old.

Dr. Nguyen Bach, Head of Dialysis Department, Ho Chi Minh City's Thong Nhat Hospital said systemic lupus erythematosus is the pathology of connective tissue, autoimmune, meaning the body produces antibodies against itself. me The disease is common in women, 9 times more than men. The age of disease is mainly 20 to 30 years old.

According to Dr. Bach, the disease has genetic factors , usually occurring in people with HLA-DR 2, 3, 8, complementary genes C1q, C2, C4. The risk factor is to use some drugs, exposure to sunlight, infection with some viruses . Siblings of patients who are at risk are many times higher than ordinary people.

Patients with lupus often have rash, pale skin.(Photo: healthline).

"Clinical manifestations are often very diverse, symptoms in many organs and atypicals are fever, joint pain, skin rash, edema, pale skin anemia, hair loss, sometimes difficulty breathing, chest pain, "said Dr Bach. Symptoms are often vague and similar to many other conditions, so patients onset of illness often visit many specialties. Many people take several years to be diagnosed.

The disease damages most life-threatening organ systems , severe life-threatening cases. The lesions in common organs are pericardial effusion, myocarditis, pleural effusion, pneumonia, glomerulonephritis, affecting the nervous system causing seizures, mental disorders, in the hematopoietic system cause anemia, hemorrhage .

According to Dr. Bach, treatment is now more advanced, there are many new immunosuppressive drugs, less toxic.The disease cannot be cured but can only be controlled to limit recurrence. If the disease is well controlled, the patient can still live normally. The course of treatment must last for nearly a lifetime, the most important is that patients must monitor regularly and periodically.

Severe illness depends on the location and the degree of susceptibility of the body. There are patients who only need to maintain the medicine to be stable, still give birth, live a normal life, have a long life. Some people have discovered that the disease is in a severe stage, difficult to cure, a poor prognosis. However, most cases of early detection and timely treatment still bring many opportunities.

The survival time of patients is increasingly improved significantly, maybe up to 20-30 years depending on the number of damaged organs and the effectiveness of treatment. In Europe and America, 95% of lupus patients live for 5 years, 90% in 10 years and 78% live for 20 years.