Jing Cui, PhD, Discusses Next Steps for Risk Prediction Models for SLE

A study presented at the American College of Rheumatology 2021 Convergence assessed risk prediction models incident systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) using lifestyle and environmental risk factors as well as a genetic risk score.

Jing Cui, PhD, Division of Rheumatology, Inflammation and Immunity, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School said that she would like to include more diversity as well as environmental factors in future research, such as family history, air pollution, sleep, and stress.

Cui noted that this population had a majority of White and Asian females. This is something to pay attention to when evaluating the results because other research has shown disparities in racial groups when it comes to systemic lupus erythematosus risk and prevalence, especially among the Black population.

The most influential factors according to this particular study included the weighted genetic risk scores (wGRS), obesity, and a young age of menarche (less than 10 years).

However, Cui mentioned that the investigators are looking to expand on these results by collecting data from a population that is at least 50% non-white. This will help display a more well-rounded representation of the data across racial/ethnic groups.