Pregnancy outcome appears to be worse in SLE patients whose disease flares up during pregnancy. Neonatal lupus is the occurrence of SLE symptoms in an infant born from a mother with SLE, most commonly presenting with a rash resembling discoid lupus erythematosus, and sometimes with systemic abnormalities such as heart block or hepatosplenomegaly. Neonatal lupus is usually benign and self-limited.
While the exact cause is not known, patients with DLE probably have a genetic predisposition. This condition does tend to run in families. The disease usually becomes active after UV light exposure but scientists believe there must be other triggering factors. Women also develop this disease three times more than men.