Black race and discoid rash were strong predictors of an incident cardiac event among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, and these events peaked in the 2nd and 11th years after diagnosis of lupus, according to a paper published by Garg et al in The Journal of Rheumatology. Using data from a cohort of 336 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus from the Georgia Lupus Registry—75% of whom were Black—17% (n = 56) had an incident cardiac event over 15 years of follow-up. Black patients had a 7-fold higher risk of incident cardiovascular disease over the entire 15-year study period, and a 19-fold higher risk in the first 12 years, compared to patients who were not Black. In a companion press release from UW Health, first author Shivani Garg, MD, a rheumatologist at UW Health and an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Rheumatology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, commented, “Our study shows that the risk of cardiovascular disease starts early after diagnosis and is strikingly high in Black people with lupus and those who present with renal disease and discoid rash.”
May 25, 2023