Disease Progression and Activity in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

This study is a continuing follow-up of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and control subjects enrolled in the Carolina Lupus Study and the University of North Carolina (UNC) Lupus Nephritis Study. SLE is a severe, chronic, disabling autoimmune disease that significantly affects health and quality of life. The disease most often affects young to middle-aged adults, and therefore can also affect work and disability. There is currently little information on work-related disability related to SLE. The goals of the current study are to: * Determine health and work status of patients and controls in the Carolina Lupus Study and the UNC Lupus Nephritis Study; * Develop and test methods for obtaining disease data from university- and community-based physicians in the study area; * Examine the associations between sociodemographic, work-related factors, disease damage, and work disability among SLE patients and controls; and * Assess the role of demographic and socioeconomic factors, psychosocial attributes, and potentially modifiable behavior or environmental factors (e.g., smoking, occupational exposures, medication compliance) in disease damage measures, and in the increased severity of disease among African-American patients. Patients and control subjects enrolled in the Carolina Lupus Study and the University of North Carolina Lupus Nephritis Study are eligible for this protocol. Subjects will participate in a 30-minute telephone interview that includes questions related to their current health status, medical care utilization, work and disability issues, psychosocial attributes (e.g., helplessness, social support), and changes in environmental exposures since the previous follow-up interview in 2001. With the patients' permission, disease damaged will be assessed using a standardized form to be completed by the patients' physician or using information obtained from the patient's medical record.