SLE disease activity, therapy and outcome
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Exploring the relationships between Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) disease activity, therapy and outcome
IRAS ID
277465
Contact name
John Reynolds
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Duration of Study in the UK
9 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE or lupus) is a chronic autoimmune systemic disease which has been shown previously by us and others to have a significant risk of premature death with the average age of death being 53.7 years in 2010 in patients recruited to an inception cohort between 1989 and 2009 , approximately 25 years earlier than population controls. Over the last 15-20 years there have been significant changes in therapy and guidelines have been published which should have improved the outcome of this disease but there are still concerns about the risk of patients developing cancer, other forms of chronic damage and dying prematurely from cardiovascular disease and infection.
This study will determine the role of disease activity and medication for lupus on the outcome of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE or lupus) in terms of the development of chronic damage, cancer and death. This will improve our understanding about the impact of lupus disease on patients, whether changes in treatments has influenced long-term outcomes and should enable us to identify modifiable risk factors.
To address this we will look at data from a large number of lupus patients under our care. We will see whether we can identify changes in the rate of damage (or death) over the last 30 years, and whether we can identify what factors contribute to this risk.
In order to find out about deaths, and also the development of cancer we will link the data to a national database (NHS digital).
In addition to our analysis of the data in Birmingham we will carry out two sub studies in collaboration with colleagues in Canada. Our data will form part of larger multinational studies to address cancer risk and COVID-19 risk in patients with SLE.
REC name
Wales REC 6
REC reference
20/WA/0228
Date of REC Opinion
2 Nov 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion