Jing Cui, PhD: Identifying Risk Factors for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

A study presented at the American College of Rheumatology 2021 Convergence by Jing Cui, PhD, Division of Rheumatology, Inflammation and Immunity, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School assessed risk prediction models incident systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) using lifestyle and environmental risk factors as well as a genetic risk score.

Lifestyle and environmental factors and weighted genetic risk score were concluded to classify future systemic lupus erythematosus risk with good AUC of 0.721. According to the study, this is the first SLE prediction model that used environmental and genetic factors and might be easily employed in at-risk populations.

Individuals who are identified as high-risk at a pre-disease stage can reduce the long-term impact of systemic lupus erythematosus on quality of life and morbidity, Cui explained.

By identifying risk factors and genetic factors, investigators aimed to develop a risk prediction model in order to identify individuals with high-risk as early as possible.

Results showed that genetic factors, obesity, and a young age of menarche (less than 10 years) were the most impactful factors in assessing risk of systemic lupus erythematosus.

"In the long run," Cui said, "we were trying to identify the high-risk population and maybe delay their lupus onset or they can have less severe stage of disease."