Addressing the disease burden of systemic lupus erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that causes organ damage and negatively affects a patient's quality of life (QoL). Despite the recent remarkable progress in treatment, patients continue to experience a substantial disease burden. In SLE, which is more common in young people, this casts a sizable shadow over patients' social activities. Treatment goals are to control disease activity, minimise treatment-related adverse events, avoid organ damage, and optimise health-related QoL. However, optimising QoL remains challenging, as many unresolved issues remain, including subjective symptoms, which are difficult for physicians to perceive. As such, physicians must work to understand this burden from the patient's perspective and pursue improved patient QoL. In this review, we discuss issues associated with disease burden and health-related QoL faced by patients with SLE in their daily lives, along with available treatments and management practices that can be implemented to optimise them. To enable SLE patients to live a normal life, we must transform current SLE care to move beyond symptom control to drive clinical remission, assessing and addressing the disease burden patients face in daily life.