Background: Evidence of a relationship between stressful life events and the onset of autoimmune diseases is not univocal and there are no meta-analyses in the literature on the question.
Aim: To look for differences in the number and type of stressful life events in the premorbid period between patients with autoimmune diseases and healthy subjects.
Method: Review of the literature in PubMed and Scopus (January 1963-May 2015).