Polyautoimmunity in patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus: A nationwide sex- and age-matched cohort study from Denmark

Background: Polyautoimmunity is defined as having 2 or more autoimmune diseases. Little is known about polyautoimmunity in patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE). Objectives: To estimate prevalence and 5 -year incidence of non e lupus erythematosus (LE) autoimmune diseases in patients with CLE. Methods: Patients with CLE were identified In the Danish National Patient Registry and each patient was age- and sex -matched with 10 general population controls. Outcome information on non -LE autoimmune diseases was obtained by register -linkage between Danish National Patient Registry and the National Prescription Register. The risk ratio (RR) for prevalent non -LE autoimmune disease at time of CLE diagnosis was calculated in modified Poisson regression; and hazard ratios (HRs) for incident non -LE autoimmune disease were estimated in Cox regression analyses. Results: Overall, 1674 patients with CLE had a higher prevalence of a non -LE autoimmune disease than the comparators (18.5 vs 7.9%; RR 2.4; 95% CI, 2.1 to 2.6). Correspondingly, the cumulative incidence of a non -LE autoimmune disease during 5 years of follow-up was increased for the patients with CLE: HR 3.5 (95% CI, 3.0 to 4.0). Limitations: Risk of detection and misclassification bias, mainly pertaining to the CLE group. Conclusion: Patients with CLE had higher prevalence and 5 -year cumulative incidence of a non -LE autoimmune disease than the general population. ( JAAD Int 2023;13:126-33.)