Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) appears to be more prevalent among Negroes than among Caucasians, an extensive population survey in New York City indicates.
This belief is the reverse of the clinical impressions reported in medical literature. The case reports, which deal primarily with white women, may reflect a tendency for the disease to be more frequently exacerbated among whites, than among Negroes, says Morris Siegel, MD.
New Yorkers Studied
The difference in prevalence of SLE between the white and non-white population of New York City (the Negro rate was three times the white rate) may be due, in part, to an observed racial difference in the responsiveness of the immune mechanism, Dr. Siegel told the Third International Symposium on Epidemiology of Chronic Rheumatism in New York City.Indirect evidence in support of this hypothesis is seen in the data on the Puerto Rican population which, for the purposes of the