Black Women More Likely to Develop Lupus

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – A recent study from the University of Michigan finds that young, black women generate a higher risk for developing lupus.
Researchers found that lupus was prevalent in one in 537 black females in Michigan and only one in 1,153 white women. The research covered about a quarter of Michigan’s population and discovered that lupus was found more in women than men.
"We found a striking health disparity between black and white women. The disproportionate burden of disease was compounded by the fact that for black females, peak risk of developing lupus occurred in young adulthood while the risk of disease among white women was spread out more evenly through mid-adulthood and tended to be less severe,” lead study author Emily Somers, Ph.D, Sc.M, an assistant professor in the departments of Internal Medicine in the division of Rheumatology, Environmental Health Sciences, and Obstetrics & Gynecology at the U-M Medical and Public Health Schools, was quoted as saying.
For more information, go to: http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/archive/201310/young-black-women-highest-risk-lupus-suffer-more-life
SOURCE: Arthritis and Rheumatism, October 2013