Cardiac Connection: Lupus patients exhibit signs of heart disease
By Nathan Seppa
Doctors have long suspected that people with lupus have a heightened risk of heart attack. Now, two major studies reveal more early signs of atherosclerosis in the blood vessels of people with the autoimmune disease than in healthy participants.
Inflammation is the logical link between heart disease and systemic lupus erythematosus, the condition’s formal name. A raft of studies over the past decade has tied inflammation to subtle artery injuries that can lead to atherosclerosis (SN: 4/20/02, p. 244: Available to subscribers at Cardiac Culprit: Autopsies implicate C-reactive protein in fatal heart attacks); 12/6/03, p. 366: Available to subscribers at Two markers may predict heart risk). In lupus patients, the immune system seems to assault its own tissues, sending inflammatory proteins to the skin and elsewhere. This gives rise to the rash, joint pain, fatigue, fever, anemia, and organ failure that mark the disease.