But the notion that lupus is typically a fatal disease is no longer correct. As many as two million people suffer from lupus in America. More people have lupus than AIDS, cerebral palsy, MS, sickle-cell anemia, and cystic fibrosis combined, yet it receives comparatively scant attention, perhaps because it is perceived as a woman's disease. Women are 10 to 15 times more likely to develop lupus than men. African-American women are the most at risk, followed by Native American, Hispanic and Asian females.
Caucasian women are the least likely to develop lupus.
Pre-pubescent women are three times more likely to develop lupus than boys. Though as many as 200,000 men in the USA have lupus and for some unexplained reason are often more seriously afflicted than women, if more masculine victims and fewer disenfranchised females suffered from the condition, its profile would probably be significantly higher. Noted television journalist Charles Kuralt died of complications from the illness, but relatively few prominent personalities have been associated with disease. The cause of lupus is unknown, but researchers believe genetic and environmental factors are involved. Because lupus strikes so many women, hormonal factors seem likely.