Many unrelated diseases might show similar symptoms, which confuses people. Sometimes, people mistake a simple inflammation for a fatal disease, increasing panic and deteriorating one’s health.
Lupus and Sarcoidosis are two unrelated diseases, but swollen gland is a symptom common to them. It is essential to know the difference between them to understand the rate of fatality of these diseases.
Key Takeaways
- Lupus is an autoimmune disease that affects multiple organ systems, while the growth of tiny inflammatory cells in various organs characterizes sarcoidosis.
- Lupus symptoms can include joint pain, skin rashes, and fatigue, whereas sarcoidosis affects the lungs, causing coughing, shortness of breath, and chest pain.
- Treatment for lupus focuses on managing symptoms and reducing inflammation, while sarcoidosis treatment may involve corticosteroids or other medications to address inflammation.
Lupus vs Sarcoidosis
Lupus is an autoimmune disease that affect the internal organs, skin and joints of a patient. It can cause inflammation, fatigue, rashes and fever. In severe cases, it causes kidney failure or memory loss. Sarcoidosis is a disease where clumps form mainly in the lungs and the lymph nodes. It causes swelling of joints, fatigue, rashes and irregular heartbeats. In serious cases, sarcoidosis can cause pulmonary fibrosis or lung disease.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease which means the immune system of the body treats its own organs and cells as foreign entities.
Due to lupus, inflammation takes place in several body parts along with common symptoms like fatigue and fever. One of the most distinctive symptoms of lupus is the formation of facial rash in the shape of a butterfly’s wings.
Sarcoidosis is commonly observed in lymph nodes and lungs, but apart from these body parts, it is also visible in the skin, heart, and eyes.
The real cause or source behind this disease is still unknown, but it can be identified by the formation of granulomas. Most of the time, they are accidentally discovered during a chest x-ray.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Lupus | Sarcoidosis |
|---|---|---|
| Causes | Lupus is an autoimmune disease with genetics playing a role in it. | The exact cause of sarcoidosis is still unknown. |
| Symptoms | Some common symptoms are butterfly-shaped rash on the face, swelling, joint pain, stiffness, and skin lesions when exposed to sunlight. | Swelling of lymph nodes and joints, fatigue, weight loss, chest pain, reddish-purple rash, nodule formation, and irregular heartbeats. |
| Diagnosis | Blood tests are conducted to diagnose lupus. | It is accidentally discovered in chest x-rays but can be confirmed by biopsy. |
| Fatality | Lupus is a fatal autoimmune disease that can cause severe kidney damage. | Untreated sarcoidosis can cause pulmonary fibrosis. |
| Treatment | Steroid therapy is recommended for preventing renal failure. | In most cases, minimal treatment is required, but in some cases, organ damage takes place. No permanent treatment. |
What is Lupus?
Lupus is a fatal autoimmune disease that is more common in women. Most cases of lupus are diagnosed between the age of 15 and 45. The symptoms of lupus are similar to the symptoms of other ailments, which makes it challenging to identify in the first place.
Though the butterfly-shaped facial rash is distinctive, in some people, they don’t tend to appear. Genetics and the environment play a very crucial role in triggering lupus.
People who are born with the tendency to have lupus are very sensitive to sunlight. Exposure to the sun can cause skin lesions. Sometimes specific types of blood pressure medications or antibiotics can also trigger lupus.
The common symptoms of the disease are fatigue and fever, skin rashes and skin lesions, breathing problem, decolouration of fingers and toes during stress, and memory loss.
Lupus can cause severe damage to many body parts, such as renal failure, inflammation of blood vessels, increases the risk of heart attack, and strokes or seizures.
There is no permanent treatment for lupus, but some medications may help control the disease. If a person suffers from drug-induced lupus, changing the medications helps in recovery.
What is Sarcoidosis?
The cause behind the occurrence of sarcoidosis is still unknown, but some experts believe that it is a body’s reaction to an unknown substance or self-proteins.
The distinctive characteristic of sarcoidosis is the formation of a tiny collection of granulomas (inflammatory cells) in any body part.
Sarcoidosis can occur in any gender at any age, but most observed cases are between 20 to 60 years. A person is more likely to get sarcoidosis if someone in the family tree has had it.
There are several symptoms of sarcoidosis, but the most common ones are swollen lymph nodes, swelling and pain in joints, and fatigue.
If granulomas have formed in the lungs, shortness of breath and constant dry cough are common symptoms. Lesions on the nose and cheek, nodule formation under the skin, blurred vision, and irregular heartbeats are also symptoms of sarcoidosis.
Sarcoidosis is less fatal as compared to lupus, but if undiagnosed for several years can cause organ damage. In some cases, the disease recovers on its own.
But, if it does not happen, there is a chance of pulmonary fibrosis, cataracts, renal failure, and facial paralysis.
Main Differences Between Lupus and Sarcoidosis
- Lupus is an autoimmune disease, and scientists and medical experts are still unaware of the real cause of sarcoidosis.
- The most distinctive characteristic of lupus is the formation of a red-coloured rash that appears in the shape of a butterfly’s wings. On the other hand, sarcoidosis can be identified by swelling of lymph nodes and joints.
- Blood tests are conducted to detect lupus, whereas sarcoidosis can be detected in chest x-rays, followed by their confirmation after biopsy.
- Lupus is a fatal disease compared to sarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis tends to go away independently but causes organ damage in prolonged cases.
- Steroid therapy, changing medications like antibiotics, and direct exposure to sunlight helps in bringing lupus under control. On the other hand, sarcoidosis needs minimal treatment for recovery except when it is undetected for a long time.
- https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM198603063141004
- https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/18/32_suppl/56s.short
Last Updated : 11 June, 2023
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Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.
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