Jane Austen died 200 years ago at the age of 41 and authors have attributed her premature death to a wide variety of causes, which include Addison’s disease and lymphoma.
We have reviewed all of her available letters and extricated relevant medical information which reveal rheumatism, facial skin lesions, fever and marked fluctuation of these symptoms. The severity of these symptoms increased, leading to her death within a year.
This range of clinical features fulfils the most recent classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus.
Austen-LeighJE.A memoir of Jane Austen. RW Chapman ed.
Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1926.
2.
Austen-LeighWAusten-LeighRA.Jane Austen, her life and letters.
London:
Smith Elder & Co, 1913.
3.
ChapmanRW.Jane Austen’s letters to her sister Cassandra and others 1796 – 1817.
London:
Oxford University Press, 1954.
4.
Le FayeD.A family record.
Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2004.
5.
Le FayeD.Jane Austen’s letters.
Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2011.
6.
WilsonGA.An historical ophthalmic study of Jane Austen. Br J Ophthalmol2012;
96: 1365–1367.
7.
LarnerAJ.Jane Austen’s (1775–1817) references to headache: fact and fiction. J Med Biogr2010;
18: 211–215.
8.
CopeZJ.Austen’s last illness. Br Med J1964;
2: 182.
9.
AddisonT.On the constitutional and local effects of disease of the supra–renal capsules.
London:
Dawsons Pall Mall, 1855.
10.
BevanFA.Jane Austen’s last illness.Br Med J1964;
2: 182–183.
11.
TomalinC.Jane Austen: A life.
New York:
Viking Penguin, 1997, p.289.
12.
UpfalA.Jane Austen’s lifelong health problems and final evidence: new evidence points to a fatal Hodgkin’s disease and excludes the widely accepted Addison’s. Med Humanit2005;
31: 3–11.
13.
WhiteKG.Jane Austen and Addison’s disease: an unconvincing diagnosis. Med Humanit2009;
35: 98–100.
14.
CampbellM.Jane Austen’s last illness. Br Med J1964;
2: 511–512.
15.
WalkerLR.Jane Austen’s death: the long reach of typhus?Persuasions On-line2010;
31: 1.
16.
SieperJ.Spondyloarthropathies. In: RWatts (ed.) Oxford textbook of rheumatology.
Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2013, pp.879–889.
17.
CazenavePLA.Lupus erythemateux (erythema centrifuge). Annales de la Peau et de la Syphilis1850;
3: 297–329.
AringerMCostenbaderKDaikhD, et al.
EULAR/American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheumatol2019;
71: 1400–1412.
20.
McElhoneKAbbottJHurleyM, et al.
460 Flares in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Lupus Sci Med2017;
4: A460.
21.
TeixeiraFPeixotoDCostaJAfonsoCAraújoD.Flares in S.L.E. aetiology, outcome and prognostic factors (ABO 662). Ann Rheum Dis2013;
71: 676.
22.
ReesFDohertyMGraingeMLanyonPDavenportGZhangW.Mortality in systemic lupus erythematosus in the United Kingdom 1999–2012. Rheumatology2016;
55: 854–860.
23.
YenEYSinghRR.A brief report: lupus – an unrecognised leading cause of death in young females; a population based study using nationwide death certificates 2000–2015. Arthritis Rheumatol2018;
70: 1251–1255.
24.
GrahamEMSpaltonDJBarnardROGarnerARoss RussellRW.Cerebral and retinal vascular changes in systemic lupus erythematosus. Ophthalmology1985;
92: 444–448.
