OBJECTIVES: To analyse the impact of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) on Portuguese patients’ quality of life. METHODS: Study conducted in one Portuguese hospital with a Auto-immune Disease Unit, sample size were 116 patients with SLE. All patients fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 1997 revised criteria for the classification of SLE and the date at which the fourth SLE classification criterion was observed was recorded as the date of diagnosis. Patients were grouped into 3 distinct phenotypes namely neuro-psychiatric (NPSLE), nephritis and non-NPSLE non-nephritis sub-groups. Quality of life measured through SF-36 and EQ-5D. Questionnaires were sent by mail and participation was voluntary and confidential. RESULTS: Sixty eight per cent valid answers were received (n=79). Respondents were predominantly female (89%) with average age 45 years. In these, the average length of disease was 12.3 (±8.7) years. Average ACR criteria was 5.1 (±1.26)   Quality of life measured through EQ-5D was 0.61 (±0,32) with a large majority of answers between 0,5 and 1,0. The average value for SF-36 mental component was 65 and the physical component was 66. CONCLUSIONS: Age was negatively correlated at a significant level with results obtained for EQ-5D and the physical component of SF-36. Disease duration was also negatively correlated at a significant level with the physical component of SF-36. Correlation between QoL instruments was found to be in accordance with studies in other countries.  QoL measured through SF-36 was consistently lower than the Portuguese norm. Results of QoL in Portuguese patients with SLE found to be comparable to the scarce available evidence in other countries. For both instruments Portuguese patients with SLE reported worst HRQoL than Portuguese patients with psoriasis.