Lupus and heart disease link
December 2006Dr Sahena Haque of the arc Epidemiology Unit is investigating why women with the inflammatory condition lupus have a five to six-fold higher risk of developing coronary heart disease.
In a three-year clinical research fellowship funded with £190,000 from the Arthritis Research campaign, she and Dr Ian Bruce will investigate whether lupus patients develop conditions usually affecting much older people - such as hardening of the arteries - because their blood vessels age at a faster rate and are less able to repair themselves.
250 patients will be recruited from clinics at Manchester Royal Infirmary, North Manchester General Hospital, Wythenshawe and Withington Hospitals and Blackburn Royal Infirmary to take part in the study at the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility.
