Clinical trial NCT00342095: Hormonal and Environmental Risk Factors for Developing Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: The Carolina Lupus (CLU) Study
Official title: Hormonal and Environmental Risk Factors for Developing Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: The Carolina Lupus Study (CLU) and Disease Progression and Activity in the Carolina Lupus Study
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Keywords: Autoimmune Diseases
Estrogen
Silica
Pesticides
Major Histocompatibility Complex
Genetic Susceptibility
Lead sponsor: National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)
Sponsor class: NIH
First posted: 2006-06-21
Enrollment: 640
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes

Brief summary: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is severe, chronic, disabling autoimmune disease that significantly affects health status and quality of life. Since the disease occurs most often in young to middle-aged adults, SLE can also affect work and disability. However, there is currently little information on work-related disability from longitudinal, population-based studies of SLE.

Participants were enrolled into the Carolina Lupus Study between February, 1997 and July 1999. We plan to conduct two telephone contacts with patients and one telephone contact with controls in a follow-up study to be conducted in 2001. The first patient contact will follow an introductory letter that describes the follow-up study. This letter provides participants the opportunity (via a toll-free phone number) to decline further contact about this study. The first patient contact will be a short (5 minute) interview in which we determine their current source of lupus-related medical care, timing of next expected visit, and update contact information. The second contact will involve a 60-minute telephone interview covering medical care utilization, current health status (including a patient-administered measure of lupus activity), work and disability issues, psychosocial attributes (e.g. helplessness, social support, daily stressors including race-related issues), and changes in exposures since the initial interview. We will attempt to schedule the patients' interviews within 3 months before or after the patient sees his or her own physician for SLE-related evaluation or treatment. A short (15 minutes or less) telephone interview will be conducted with controls focusing on current health, work status, and daily stresso.

Ddisease damage will be assessed using the System Lupus international Collaborating Clinics (SLICC)/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Damage Index, a standardized and validated instrument that is completed by the patient's physician.

We will seek death certificates for patients and controls who have died in order to obtain cause of death information. Next-of-kin information from death certificates will not be used.

This study will allow up to determine the feasibility of obtaining reliable data on disease damage from more than 50 physicians involved in the treatment of patients in the Carolina Lupus Study. This developmental work is a necessary foundation for any additional follow-up studies of the Carolina Lupus Study cohort. We will also be able to examine associations with disability in patients and in controls and to examine the contribution of various factors to the increased disease severity experience by African-American SLE patients.

Detailed description: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is severe, chronic, disabling autoimmune disease that significantly affects health status and quality of life. Since the disease occurs most often in young to middle-aged adults, SLE can also affect work and disability. However, there is currently little information on work-related disability from longitudinal, population-based studies of SLE.

Disease damage will be assessed using the System Lupus international Collaborating Clinics (SLICC)/American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Damage Index, a standardized and validated instrument that is completed by the patient's physician.

This study will allow us to determine the feasibility of obtaining reliable data on disease damage from more than 50 physicians involved in the treatment of patients in the Carolina Lupus Study. This developmental work is a necessary foundation for any additional follow-up studies of the Carolina Lupus Study cohort. We will also be able to examine associations with disability in patients and in controls and to examine the contribution of various factors to the increased disease severity experience by African-American SLE patients.

Eligibility criteria: * INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Patients were eligible for the study if they met the 1997 revised American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for SLE (32, 33), were diagnosed between January 1, 1995 and July 31, 1999, were 18 years or older at study enrollment, had lived within the study area during at least 6 months of the year prior to diagnosis, and could speak and understand English.

Primary outcomes:
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Chapel Hill
country: United States
facility: University of North Carolina
state: North Carolina
city: Durham
country: United States
facility: Duke University Medical Center
state: North Carolina
city: Greenville
country: United States
facility: East Carolina University
state: North Carolina
city: Raleigh
country: United States
facility: Wake Medical Center
state: North Carolina
city: Research Triangle Park
country: United States
facility: NIEHS, Research Triangle Park
state: North Carolina
city: Columbia
country: United States
facility: Medical University of South Carolina
state: South Carolina
Study officials:
References: