[Early diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus. A challenge for clinicians of different specialties].

This paper presents some of the results from a ten year prospective study (Eurolupus) analyzing the main clinical and immunological manifestations in 1,000 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The time lag from the first symptoms to diagnosis was much longer in patients from Norway compared with patients from Europe in general (6.6 years versus two years respectively). In order to improve the early diagnosis of SLE, the authors focus on early clinical symptoms and signs.