This study included 5,018 patients with lupus and 25,090 control group subjects (representing the general population of Clalit Health Services). Of those 5,018 patients, 276 were also diagnosed with schizophrenia. The proportion of patients with schizophrenia in the lupus group versus the control group was 1.38% vs. 0.83%. Even after controlling for gender, age, socioeconomic status, and smoking status, the positive association between lupus and schizophrenia remained significant. 

Findings in Israel Study

In a cross-sectional study comparing Israel’s Clalit Health Services patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) regarding the proportion of patients with comorbid schizophrenia, researchers found a positive association between SLE and schizophrenia across age, gender, and socioeconomic status. 


University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Psychiatric researchers are investigating the connection between systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and schizophrenia. Though some individuals may be diagnosed with both, the causative link between lupus and schizophrenic symptoms remains inconclusive in these instances. 

The Possible Link Between Lupus and Schizophrenia

Tiosano S, Farhi A, Watad A, Grysman N, Stryjer R, Amital H, Comaneshter D, Cohen AD, Amital D. Schizophrenia among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: population-based cross-sectional study. Epidemiol Psychiatr Sci. 2017 Aug;26(4):424-429. doi: 10.1017/S2045796016000561. Epub 2016 Jul 26. PMID: 27457404; PMCID: PMC6998678.



Schizophrenia among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: population-based cross-sectional study.

After suffering a traumatic experience in 1995, April Burrell was hospitalized and later diagnosed with schizophrenia. Nearly 20 years later, Sander Markx, director of precision psychiatry at Columbia University, discovered that April’s immune system was overproducing antibodies that were only attacking her brain. Through an intensive six month immunotherapy treatment for April’s lupus  — where her brain would receive powerful pulses of steroids into its veins five times a month — April’s schizophrenic symptoms quickly abated until she was deemed mentally competent to be discharged from the psychiatric hospital where she had resided for two decades. 

The Case of April Burrell

Israel Study of the Connection Between Lupus and Schizophrenia

Researchers from the American College of Rheumatology examined the association between schizophrenic genetic susceptibility loci and psychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus at the Lupus Clinic at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. This study consisted of 513 participants, with 31% being of European descent and 28% being of Asian descent. The researchers concluded there was no association between schizophrenia and lupus observed in their multiethnic cohort. 


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