Abstract
LUMINA is a multi-ethnic US lupus cohort established in 1994, which includes about 600 Caucasian, African Americans and Hispanic patients and who has allowed the study of the impact of ethnicity in the course and outcome of systemic lupus erythematosus or LES. Like African Americans, Hispanics, particularly those with a very important representation of Amerindian genes experience a more severe disease (renal disease is more frequent, for example) and they accrue damage earlier in the course of the disease and a faster pace. Given the fact that ethnicity encompasses both, a biological component and a social-environmental component, it is unclear to what extent the differential outcome observed in patients with lupus from ethnic minority groups is primarily due to biologic or non-biologic factors. These issues will be discussed at the NIH Health Disparities Seminar to be held May 17 at the NIH Campus.
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