Risk Factors of Coronary Disease Concerning Lupus
What a person should know, in the first place is that lupus has an autoimmune character, which means that your immune system is no longer fighting bacteria or viruses but your own healthy tissues.
Systemic lupus erythematosus increases the predisposition of the affected persons to a possible stroke or development of a coronary artery disease. The most vulnerable categories are those of young women, whose immune system used to protect them before the apparition of lupus and, according to a recent study, women between 35 and 44 years of age; the last category is 50 times more susceptible of heart attacks and other coronary artery problems than healthy women.
It is understandable why the persons affected by lupus are more exposed to cardiovascular complications: one of the main damaging actions of systemic lupus erythematosus is inflammation. When this inflammation reaches the walls of the arteries, atherosclerosis – the starting point for the majority for the cardiovascular disorders – appears. But atherosclerosis is not the only important factor of risk: the heart and blood vessels are also endangered by kidney diseases, hypertension and abnormalities of lipids and lipoproteins' levels inside the blood. In order to properly control lupus, these factors of risk shouldn't be neglected; on the contrary: they need to be immediately treated, too.
Lupus patients that also have rheumatoid arthritis are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular problems, but they are less predisposed than those with atherosclerosis.
Lupus cannot be treated. However, the symptoms and the evolution may be kept under control. There are two components, in order to achieve that: the patient should take good care of himself/ herself through sufficient rest, staying out of the light of sun and exercises; the other component consists in the actual treatment involving antimalarials and NSAIDs, which help in the management of the symptoms.