Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27157, USA.
Aging modifies the clinical presentation and course of autoimmune disorders. In the older person who carries a complement of predisposing genes, environmental factors may alter a senescent immune system and trigger the onset of autoimmunity. In this article about autoimmune diseases of the older adult, the authors discuss the epidemiology, clinical presentations, laboratory and radiographic findings, and management of systemic lupus erythematosus, primary Sjogren's syndrome, and idiopathic inflammatory myopathies.