Elevating the Male Lupus Voice During Men’s Health Month
Elevating the Male Lupus Voice During Men’s Health Month
New Study Identifies Certain Gut Bacteria as Potential Drivers of Lupus Flares
New Study Identifies Certain Gut Bacteria as Potential Drivers of Lupus Flares
May is Lupus Awareness Month
Read about how the Lupus Foundation of America is uniting communities to raise lupus awareness and support and how you can get involved to help make lupus visible.
Toni Braxton Opens Up About Her Lupus Complications
Toni Braxton spoke recently about a “traumatic” heart procedure she underwent after she experienced a life-threatening lupus complication.
Article Credit: Lupus Foundation of America | lupus.org
New Findings in Lupus and Machine Learning
New research in machine learning finds four predictive lupus disease profiles.
In People with Lupus, Age and Location Linked to Delayed Follow-Up After Hospitalization
March 30, 2023
Research shows younger people living with lupus and those living in rural or disadvantaged areas are less likely to have a follow-up appointment with their doctor shortly after they’ve been discharged from the hospital. One quarter of people with lupus are hospitalized every year, and one-third are re-hospitalized within 30 days, underscoring the importance of timely outpatient care.
Looking at data from 8,606 adults hospitalized with lupus on Medicare, researchers found that 35% lacked follow-up within 30 days overall. That follow-up rate is worse than the rate reported among people with other chronic diseases.
People with lupus who also exhibited the following characteristics were less likely to have a timely follow-up appointment after hospital discharge:
- More co-occurring illnesses
- A longer hospital length-of-stay
- Rural place of residency
- Greater neighborhood disadvantage
In the 65 years and older cohort, receiving timely follow-up care was associated with a 65% lower mortality rate in the month following hospital discharge, highlighting the tremendous value of outpatient treatment in this population in particular.
Regular preventative and follow-up care is critically important to living well with lupus, yet many struggle to get the medical support they need. Learn more about barriers to lupus diagnosis and care.
Article Credit: Lupus Foundation of America | lupus.org
New Investigational Drug for Systemic and Cutaneous Lupus Advancing to Phase I Clinical Trials
Ventus Therapeutics Inc. has announced the development of VENT-03, a potential first-in-class drug designed to target cGAS, a cell receptor linked to lupus and a broad range of other diseases including neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. This will be the first drug of its kind to advance into clinical development, and it will enter its first Phase I trial cGAS is thought to be involved in both systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE), and the latest news marks an exciting step forward in lupus drug development.
Last year, Ventus received a Lupus Research Program Idea Award from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to study the cGAS inhibitor as a potential treatment for lupus. The Lupus Foundation of America’s (LFA) advocacy efforts and strong community of advocates led the fight in establishing the DoD Lupus Research Program in 2017, successfully advocating each year for continued funding of this critical program. To date, the program has provided more than $76 million to fund high-impact, high-quality studies to help find ways to diagnose and treat lupus more effectively.
Continue to follow the LFA for updates on VENT-03 and learn more about medications used to treat lupus.
Article Credit: Lupus Foundation of America | lupus.org