Ethnicity and mortality from systemic lupus erythematosus in the US

Ann Rheum Dis. 2006 Nov;65(11):1500-5. doi: 10.1136/ard.2005.040907. Epub 2006 Apr 20.

Abstract

Objective: To study ethnic differences in mortality from systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus) in two large, population-based datasets.

Methods: We analysed the national death data (1979-98) from the National Center for Health Statistics (Hyattsville, Maryland, USA) and hospitalisation data (1993-2002) from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), the largest hospitalisation database in the US.

Results: The overall, unadjusted, lupus mortality in the National Center for Health Statistics data was 4.6 per million, whereas the proportion of in-hospital mortality from the NIS was 2.9%. African-Americans had disproportionately higher mortality risk than Caucasians (all-cause mortality relative risk adjusted for age = 1.24 (women), 1.36 (men); lupus mortality relative risk = 3.91 (women), 2.40 (men)). Excess risk was found among in-hospital deaths (odds ratio adjusted for age = 1.4 (women), 1.3 (men)). Lupus death rates increased overall from 1979 to 98 (p<0.001). The proportional increase was greatest among African-Americans. Among Caucasian men, death rates declined significantly (p<0.001), but rates did not change substantially for African-American men. The African-American:Caucasian mortality ratio rose with time among men, but there was little change among women. In analyses of the NIS data adjusted for age, the in-hospital mortality risk decreased with time among Caucasian women (p<0.001).

Conclusions: African-Americans with lupus have 2-3-fold higher lupus mortality risk than Caucasians. The magnitude of the risk disparity is disproportionately higher than the disparity in all-cause mortality. A lupus-specific biological factor, as opposed to socioeconomic and access-to-care factors, may be responsible for this phenomenon.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Black or African American / statistics & numerical data
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Hospitalization / statistics & numerical data
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / ethnology*
  • Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / mortality
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Mortality / trends
  • Risk Factors
  • Sex Factors
  • United States / epidemiology
  • White People / statistics & numerical data