In patients with systemic lupus erythematosus a number of risk factors of osteoporosis can be identified: lower exposure to sunlight, frequent presence of nephropathies, that can be associated with secondary hyperparathyroidism, hypogonadism, lower functional capacity, higher cytokine levels with an osteocatabolic effect, treatment (in particular with corticosteroids, cyclosporin A etc.). The effect of these factors on bone mineral density (BMD) was not exactly evaluated so far and hitherto accomplished studies give conflicting results.

        Key words: systemic lupus erythematosus, bone mineral density, osteoporosis, corticosteroids,