Importance of cumulative exposure to elevated cholesterol and blood pressure in development of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease in systemic lupus erythematosus: A prospective proof-of-concept cohort study

Abstract

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that traditional risk factors such as hypercholesterolemia and hypertension account for only a small proportion of the dramatically increased risk of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD) in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, in these studies, exposure to risk factors was measured only at baseline. In this study, our objective was to compare measures of cumulative exposure with remote and recent values for each of total cholesterol (TC), systolic (SBP), and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure in terms of ability to quantify risk of atherosclerotic CAD in patients with SLE. Methods: Patients in the Toronto lupus cohort had TC and BP measu..