Drug-Induced Lupus
Prognosis
By definition, drug-induced lupus is "cured" merely be stopping the offending medication. However, the complete disappearance of symptoms can sometimes take months, and the disappearance of abnormal autoantibodies may take a few years.
After recovering from DILE, some people may develop this syndrome again if not enough time has passed before they again begin to take the same medication. It would be best to avoid a medicine that has previously caused drug-induced lupus.
DILE With SLE?
There is often the desire to attribute a spontaneous disease to environmental factors. In cases of SLE it seems especially justified to implicate drugs shown to induce lupus-like disease. The medical literature mentions that selected cases of true SLE might have been "triggered" by a lupus-inducing drug. It is not possible to prove or disprove this idea.
Researchers continue to search for environmental factors that might cause and sustain systemic lupus and other autoimmune diseases, based on the phenomenon of drug-induced lupus. However, the vast majority of people with DIL are fully cured simply by discontinuing use of the responsible medicine.
Drugs Reported to Induce Lupus-Like Disease
|
Agent |
Risk |
Agent |
Risk | |
|
Antiarrhythmics |
Antithyroidals |
|||
|
Procainamide (Pronestyl) |
high |
Propylthiouracil (Propyl-thyracil) |
low | |
|
Quinidine (Quinaglute) |
moderate |
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|
Disopyramide (Norpace) |
very low |
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|
Propafenone (Rythmol) |
very low |
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|
Antibiotics |
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|
Antihypertensives |
Isoniazid (INH) |
low | ||
|
Hydralazine (Apresoline) |
high |
Nitrofurantoin (Macrodantin) |
very low | |
|
Methyldopa (Aldomet) |
low |
Minocycline (Minocin) |
low | |
|
Captopril (Capoten) |
low |
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|
Acebutolol (Sectral) |
low |
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|
Enalapril (Vasotec) |
very low |
Anti-Inflammatories |
||
|
Clonidine (Catapres) |
very low |
D-Penicillamine (Cuprimine) |
low | |
|
Atenolol (Tenormin) |
very low |
Sulfasalazine (Azulfidine) |
low | |
|
Labetalol (Normodyne, Trandate) |
very low |
Phenylbutazone (Butazolidin) |
very low | |
|
Pindolol (Visken) |
very low |
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|
Minoxidil (Loniten) |
very low |
Diuretics |
||
|
Prazosin (Minipress) |
very low |
Chlorthalidone (Hygroton) |
very low | |
|
Hydrochlorothiazide (Diuchlor h) |
very low | |||
|
Agent |
Risk |
Agent |
Risk | |
|
Antipsychotics |
Miscellaneous |
|||
|
Chlorpromazine (Thorazine) |
low |
Lovastatin (Mevacor) |
very low | |
|
Perphenazine (Trilafon) |
very low |
Levodopa (Dopar) |
very low | |
|
Phenelzine (Nardil) |
very low |
Aminoglutethimide (Cytadren) |
very low | |
|
Chlorprothixene (Taractan) |
very low |
Alpha-interferon (Wellferon) |
very low | |
|
Lithium carbonate (Eskalith) |
very low |
Timolol eye drops (Timoptic) |
very low | |
|
Anticonvulsants |
||||
|
Phenytoin (Dilantin) |
very low |
|||
|
Carbamazepine (Tegretol) |
low |
|||
|
Trimethadione (Tridone) |
very low |
|||
|
Primidone (Mysoline) |
very low |
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|
Ethosuximide (Zarontin) |
very low |
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