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Article History

Received: 19 February 2026

Accepted: 5 May 2026

First Online: 4 June 2026

Declarations

:

: MS reports funding to her research group from The Lupus Trust, Lupus UK, Vasculitis UK, SRUK and the NIHR, and consultancy fees from Otoimmune paid to the Department of Public Health. JAB has received speaking fees from Psychiatric Times and Oakstone and receives royalties from American Psychiatric Publishing, Springer International, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, and Cambridge University Press. All other authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

: Patients were actively involved throughout every stage of this study, including contributing to the development of the research question and survey to ensure relevance to patient priorities and lived experience. Patients participated in the study through completion of surveys and qualitative interviews. Two patient partners are co-authors on this manuscript and contributed to study interpretation and reporting. The findings will be disseminated to patients and the public through sharing of the published article and lay summaries.

: This manuscript has not been published previously and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part. No part of this work has been copied from other sources.

: AI-assisted large language model tools were used solely for language editing and grammatical refinement only, accessed during manuscript preparation (2026). All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript and take full responsibility for its accuracy and integrity.