Analysis of a national database of hospital discharges from Spain shows that infections accounted for 25% of lupus deaths, making infection the most common cause of death in SLE.

Population based study from Minnesota shows that the incidence of lupus nephritis (LN) in the US has increased in the last four decades and that LN patients have poorer outcomes with high rates of ESRD and mortality rates six times that of the general population.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com. Highlighted discussion of implantable stimulators, urine proteomics and gut-immune responses to Prevotella in RA.

Pregnancy in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is fraught with problems of adverse pregnancy outcomes, more pregnancy loss and birth defects. Now a study of SLE pregnancies exposed to belimumab (BEL) shows and expected rate of pregnancy loss but a variable rate of birth defects.

A study from the Georgia Lupus Registry shows that systemic lupus erythematosus patients are at greatest risk for cardiovascular disease events between years 2 and 11 after diagnosis and higher in Black people or those with a discoid rash.

The California Lupus Surveillance Project has longitudinally followed included systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) cases and shown that overall, the leading cause of death was cardiovascular disease (CVD), followed by rheumatic disease and hematologic/oncologic conditions.