title: Incidence and prevalence of systemic lupus erythematosus among Arab and Chaldean Americans in southeastern Michigan: the Michigan Lupus Epidemiology and Surveillance Program.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We assessed the burden of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) among Arab and Chaldean Americans residing in southeast Michigan.
  
  
  METHODS
  For those meeting SLE criteria from the Michigan Lupus Epidemiology and Surveillance Registry, we determined Arab or Chaldean ethnicity by links with demographic data from birth certificates and with a database of Arab and Chaldean names. We compared prevalence and incidence of SLE for Arab and Chaldean Americans with estimates for non-Arab and non-Chaldean American Whites and Blacks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We classified 54 individuals with SLE as Arab and Chaldean Americans. The age-adjusted incidence and prevalence estimates for Arab and Chaldean Americans were 7.6 and 62.6 per 100 000, respectively. Arab and Chaldean Americans had a 2.1-fold excess SLE incidence compared with non-Arab and non-Chaldean American Whites. Arab and Chaldean American women had both significantly higher incidence rates (5.0-fold increase) and prevalence estimates (7.4-fold increase) than did Arab and Chaldean American men.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recognizing that Arab and Chaldean Americans experience different disease burdens from Whites is a first step toward earlier diagnosis and designing targeted interventions. Better methods of assigning ethnicity would improve research in this population.
authors: Michelle Housey, Peter DeGuire, and Sarah Lyon-Callo are with the Michigan Department of Community Health, Lansing. Lu Wang is with the Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Wendy Marder, W. Joseph McCune, and Emily C. Somers are with the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Charles G. Helmick is with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA. Caroline Gordon is with the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. J. Patricia Dhar is with the Central Michigan University College of Medicine, Mount Pleasant. James Leisen is with the Henry Ford Health System, Division of Rheumatology, Detroit, MI.
authors: Michelle
authors: M
authors: Housey
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: DeGuire
authors: Sarah
authors: S
authors: Lyon-Callo
authors: Lu
authors: L
authors: Wang
authors: Wendy
authors: W
authors: Marder
authors: W Joseph
authors: WJ
authors: McCune
authors: Charles G
authors: CG
authors: Helmick
authors: Caroline
authors: C
authors: Gordon
authors: J Patricia
authors: JP
authors: Dhar
authors: James
authors: J
authors: Leisen
authors: Emily C
authors: EC
authors: Somers
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018912:Arabs; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000208:ethnology*; D008297:Male; D008824:Michigan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D062486:Public Health Surveillance; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors