New studies outline cardiovascular risk in lupus patients

Also at the congress, Dr. Maureen McMahon of the University of California, Los Angeles, gave a presentation on a panel of biomarkers found to be predictive of current, progressive, or acquired carotid plaque in a cohort of SLE patients.

For their research, Dr. McMahon and her colleagues looked at 210 female SLE patients and 100 age-matched controls who underwent ultrasound imaging of their carotid arteries at baseline and after a mean 29 months of follow-up. Nearly a third of SLE patients had evidence of plaque on follow-up.

The researchers found that three or more of the following factors at baseline were 94% predictive of plaque: age 48 or older, evidence of proinflammatory high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, plasma leptin of 34 ng/dL or greater, homocysteine of 12 mmol/L or greater, and plasma levels of sTWEAK (soluble tumor necrosis factor–like weak inducer of apoptosis) of 373 pg/mL or greater. Any one of these factors plus diabetes was also predictive. Patients with at least three indicators (or one plus diabetes) saw a 28-fold increased odds for the longitudinal presence of carotid plaque (95% confidence interval, 10.6-72.7; P less than .001) and a significantly increased rate of progression of both plaque and intima-media thickness.

None of the investigators disclosed financial relationships related to these studies.