Drug cuts risk of kidney damage in lupus
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - For patients with lupus, long-term treatment with hydroxychloroquine, started soon after the disease is diagnosed, seems to protect against kidney damage, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology meeting in San Francisco.
Lupus, technically known as systemic lupus erythematosus or SLE, is a chronic “autoimmune” disease in which the immune system can confuse healthy and foreign tissues and sometimes attacks both. The condition can vary widely in severity, manifesting as skin rash and arthritis or leading to damage to the kidneys, heart, lungs and brain to varying degrees. There is no cure.
“We have shown before that hydroxychloroquine protects several organ systems in patients with lupus,” study investigator Dr. Graciela Alarcon told Reuters Health.
“The question remained — does hydroxychloroquine also prevent the development of kidney damage, one of the most serious complications of SLE? This is important to know,” Alarcon said, “since patients with renal damage may need a kidney transplant or dialysis, which increase health care costs and impact patients’ quality of life.”
The research team studied 582 patients who had lupus for no longer than 5 years at the start of the study. A total of 506 were treated with hydroxychloroquine.
Seventy-three patients developed kidney damage after having lupus for an average of 5.5 years.
Results showed that taking hydroxychloroquine was highly protective against the occurrence of kidney damage. Those who took the drug were roughly 70 percent less likely to develop kidney damage than those who did not.
Alarcon, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, noted that in a separate group of patients who already had lupus-related kidney damage, hydroxychloroquine was similarly protective against further damage, amounting to a 70 percent reduction in risk.
She emphasized that hydroxychloroquine may prevent kidney damage but it does not reverse damage that is already present.
“Our data strongly suggest that if renal damage is to be prevented, hydroxychloroquine should be prescribed to all lupus patients early in the course of the disease,” the research team concludes.
healthcentral.com
