Fortin says that the course of lupus is unpredictable in that it may flare up, but you won't know when. Ultimately, the patient has to learn to live with a chronic disease. As director of clinical research at the Arthritis Centre Of Excellence, which is part of Toronto's Arthritis And Autoimmunity Research Centre, Fortin is convinced of the need for better teamwork in lupus research. One research area of particular interest to Fortin is heart disease because women with lupus are shown to develop thickening of the arteries at a higher rate and earlier age than the general population. They are also up to five times more likely to develop angina and suffer a heart attack.
Heart disease accounts for one-third of all deaths in women with lupus.
One jarring statistic provided by Fortin was that women in the age group 35 to 44 who have lupus have a 50 times greater incidence of heart attack than women of similar age from a normal sample of the population. Its impact is very important, says Fortin, because the disease attacks young people in their prime years. Given these factors, the fact that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women and that lupus affects many more women than men, this particular disease should experience a dramatic rise in its profile. However, Fortin is more concerned about the health of patients attacked by the disease than the disease's current lack of profile. Our hope is to intervene on a lupus diagnosis so as to prevent heart disease and stroke down the road in those who are at high risk.