When compared with White patients with lupus, Asian and Hispanic patients with the disease die prematurely, according to a study published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Researchers assessed data on more than 800 people with lupus in San Francisco from 2007-2009, as well as national death listings through 2017. Death rates were nearly six times higher than expected among Hispanic patients with lupus and four times higher than expected among Asian women with lupus, the researchers found. Nine times more women than men had the disease, and rates were highest among Native American/ Alaskan Native women (at 270 per 100,000). Black women had the second highest rate (231 per 100,000), followed by Hispanic women (at 121 per 100,000). Similar racial disparities were seen among men with lupus, with Native American /Alaskan Natives having the highest number (54 per 100,000), followed by Black men (at 27 per 100,000), according to a recent report. While the higher death rates in Blacks with lupus had been previously described, the researchers say their study is one of the first to compare rates among Asian and Hispanic/Latino patients with the general population. The study showed that Black patients died about 7 years earlier than White patients, and Hispanics died nearly 10 years earlier.
