In the past 40 years an impressive improvement in the prognosis of SLE patients has occurred. Factors which might be responsible for this improvement are discussed. Two of the factors most frequently cited are the advances in disease recognition and treatment. However, as already noted by Albert (1979) this is questionable, as average disease duration and survival have increased in a linear fashion related to the number of publications devoted to this subject from 1950 on. Further evaluation of the literature shows that the most prominent factors which have an impact on the survival rate are specific disease manifestations (lupus nephritis) and the overall disease course (number of exacerbations). This effect of morbidity on the survival rate is greater than that of factors such as sex and race. Socio-economic factors or age at onset have no effect on the outcome.