Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Lupus

Gulinello, Maria PhD
Wen, Jing MD
Putterman, Chaim MD

Maria Gulinello, PhD, is the Director of the Behavioral Core Facility, Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Jing Wen, MD, is a PhD student, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Chaim Putterman, MD, is Chief, Division of Rheumatology; and Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Address correspondence to: Maria Gulinello, MD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Kennedy Center Room 925, 1410 Pelham Pkwy S, Bronx, NY 10461; fax: 718-430-8821; email: [email protected].

Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial relationships to disclose.

Psychiatric Annals 42(9):p 322-328, September 01, 2012. | DOI: 10.3928/00485713-20120906-05

CME Educational Objectives

Learn the symptoms, diagnostic procedures, and prevalence of neuropsychiatric lupus (NPSLE).
Understand the current hypotheses regarding the putative mechanisms underlying NPSLE.
Become familiar with some of the current strategies for treatment of NPSLE and understand their limitations.

The neuropsychiatric aspects of systemic lupus erythematosus have been less studied than the peripheral aspects of the disease, and the importance of neuropsychiatric symptoms has been underestimated. Furthermore, until recently, the diagnostic criteria were not standardized and were not sufficiently based on systematic evidence from preclinical and clinical data.