Association between perceived level of stress, clinical characteristics and psychopathological symptoms in women with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objectives: To evaluate psychopathological status and stress level from a sample with SLE; compare mental functioning and stress levels between women with SLE and healthy women; determine whether disease duration, disease activity, cumulative organ damage and stress have an influence on psychopathological symptoms in SLE patients; and evaluate whether perception of stress is related to SLE severity.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 425 participants; 202 women with SLE, with an average age (SD) of 36.61 (10.