SLICC PI: Dr. Murray Urowitz

Funding Source: Canadian Institute for Health Research

The SLICC Registry for Atherosclerosis (RAS) in SLE, directed by Dr. Urowitz, was established by the SLICC group in 2000 with the overall goals to:

1. Determine the incidence, prevalence and nature of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD) in SLE.
2. Identify associated risk factors for the development of CAD and its outcomes and to discern the contributions of disease and therapy to the occurrences of these risk factors.
3. To develop intervention studies to modify important associated risk factors.

The SLICC RAS is a longitudinal study of newly diagnosed patients with SLE in SLICC sites from 11 countries with a total of 1800 patients registered. Extensive clinical and laboratory data is collected annually on all patients and stored at the Toronto Western Hospital along with a repository of biologic materials (DNA, serum and plasma).

The SLICC RAS has now reached over 15 years of follow-up and it has resulted in several important publications describing risk factors for CAD present at SLE diagnosis and the accumulation of risk factors over time. The registry has described the nature of atherosclerotic events occurring early in this population and has examined the role of metabolic syndrome in the development of CAD. The SLICC RAS has identified that not only patients with SLE have an increased frequency of CAD events in the years after the diagnosis of SLE, but in fact have an increased incidence of CAD events reported prior to or shortly after the diagnosis of SLE.

The SLICC RAS has become a valuable resource for research in several areas of SLE, which include research in quality of life, renal disease, damage accrual and healthcare utilization. The Registry has participated in collaborative projects with the pharmaceutical industry.