Atherosclerosis and Lupus — The SLICC study

Abstract

Lupus (2007) 16, 925‐928 http://lup.sagepub.com Since the first description of the bimodal mortality pattern of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) showing that coronary artery disease (CAD) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in this condition, multiple studies have addressed the nature of these clinical outcomes and the associated risk factors. However, their exact incidence and prevalence is unknown and the relevant risk factors have not been fully elucidated. A few studies have attempted to identify risk factors for CAD in lupus. 1‐4 Most compared patients with SLE and documented CAD to those with no CAD, addressing classic cardiac risk factors. To date, these studies have found elevated total cholesterol and older age at diagnosis of SLE to be significantly associated with CAD. Other factors implicated in one or two studies have been hypertension, 2,3 previous cardiac involvement with SLE, 3 obesity 2 and longer duration of corticosteroid use. 1 However, lupus populations vary with regard to organ involvement and given the limited power of previous studies, it has not been possible to adequately address these variables in the past.