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Media Releases
Mainly a Woman's Disease, Lupus Can Be Severe in Men
Columbia, Mo. (Oct. 10, 2005) - Unlike many diseases, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is not an equal-opportunity destroyer. It is a discriminatory disease, affecting predominantly women. More than 90 percent of those diagnosed with lupus are women between the ages of 15 and 45.
Rarely does lupus occur in men, but when it does, it may be more damaging than in women.
"In my experience men with lupus have a very severe disease," says Dr. Sara E. Walker, professor of rheumatology at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine and co-principal investigator of the Missouri Arthritis Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (MARRTC). "It's not necessarily because lupus is understudied in men, it just is often severe. It is often atypical - you may see a man with severe kidney involvement, who might not have the usual signs of lupus."
Early diagnosis is essential for both men and women to prevent complications from lupus, some of which can be life threatening. Because lupus occurs relatively rarely in men, and is widely viewed as a woman's disease, men may not get the same aggressive screening for lupus as women.
"It is possible that diagnosis of lupus could be delayed in men. One way around this is for men to go see their doctors when they feel sick," Walker says. "Many men just don't go to the doctor, and when they do go, it's because their dear wife is dragging them. Men tend to neglect themselves to their detriment."
Lupus in men behaves differently than it does in women. Because so few men develop the disease, lupus has been somewhat understudied in men.
The largest U. S. study to date included 2,144 men and was conducted over a 19-year period, from 1987 to 1996, in VA hospitals across the country. The results of the study appear in the June 2001 issue of the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology.
The study found that:
Lupus in men develops later in life than in women
Lupus in men has a more complex course than in women
More men die of lupus complications one year after diagnosis than women
Dr. Michelle Petri, of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who is a nationally recognized authority on lupus, says men with lupus fare much worse than women. The differences in outcome are evident even in small sample sizes. For example, of the 1,500 lupus patients currently enrolled in a study at Johns Hopkins, only 70 are male.
"Even within the center, poorer prognosis in men is statistically significant," Petri says. "Men with SLE [lupus] tend to have more kidney damage and more myocardial infarctions [heart attacks] than women."
In a 1997 study, Petri found that men with SLE had more seizures, anemia and clotting problems related to their disease compared to women.
To arrange an interview with a MARRTC expert on lupus or any other arthritis related topic, contact Becky Woelfel, Senior Information Specialist, at (573) 882-2914 or by email at woelfelr@missouri.edu
The Missouri Arthritis Research Rehabilitation and Training Center (MARRTC) was established in 1971 at the University of Missouri-Columbia Arthritis Center. MARRTC is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (H133B031120) and is the only federally funded arthritis rehabilitation research and training center in the country.
As part of the MU Health Communication Research Center (HCRC), MARRTC's mission is to become a national leader in the areas of disability management and communication, improve the quality of life and promote independent living among people who have arthritis and arthritic conditions. MARRTC's core message is "Disability is everyone's issue."
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