Lupus patients 'at higher risk of developing other health conditions'

People with lupus are at a greater risk of developing other health conditions than members of the general population.This is according to a new study conducted by the University of Nottingham and the Arthritis Research UK Primary Care Centre at Keele University, which examined the frequency of comorbidities associated with systemic lupus erythematosus in the UK between 1999 and 2012.A broad UK study Published in the medical journal Arthritis Care & Research, the study drew upon data from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink, identifying cases of lupus and matching each one by age, gender and practice to four healthy subjects.They measured the incidence of cardiovascular disease, stroke, end-stage renal failure, cancer, osteoporosis and infection between the two groups, taking into account potentially influential factors such as age, gender, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol intake, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and use of the drug prednisolone.In total, 7,732 prevalent cases of lupus were identified and compared to 28,079 matched controls.A greater risk for lupus patients It was found that people with lupus were more likely to suffer from heart disease, stroke, renal failure, cancer, osteoporosis and infections than those without lupus.Broken down in terms of gender, men with lupus were shown to have higher rates of cardiovascular disease, stroke and cancer, whereas women had higher rates of infection and osteoporosis. Those at younger ages were at the greate...
Source: Arthritis Research UK - Category: Rheumatology Source Type: news