NEW SURVEY REVEALS COMMUNICATION GAP AS MANY LUPUS PATIENTS REMAIN SILENT ON TRUE IMPACT OF DISEASE
Leading Rheumatologist Discusses How Communication and Support of Lupus Patients is Critical www.usinlupus.com
Approximately 322,000 Americans have systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a common form of lupus, but the burden of the disease still remains largely unknown to the public. Results of a new Gfk Roper survey of the lupus community released today highlights a communication gap between people with SLE and the people who care for and about them.
The Roper survey evaluated the daily and long-term impact of lupus on health, family relationships, career and quality of life.
The results of the national survey found that communication challenges are significant between people with SLE and their physicians and supporters (family members or friends).
On March 28, 2012, Joan Merrill, M.D., chair of the Clinical Pharmacology Research Program at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, a leading national lupus center, will discuss the results of the survey and how stronger communication can help physicians and supporters improve relationships with lupus patients and better understand the burden of this chronic disease.
Talent/Guest: Dr. Joan Merrill
Dr. Merrill is Member and Head of the Clinical Pharmacology Research Program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF), a leading center for lupus research in the United States. She is board certified in internal medicine and rheumatology. Dr. Merrill also is OMRF Professor of Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at New York University Medical Center. She is a member of the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics, serves as a consultant to the Arthritis Advisory Committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is a member of the Clinical Research Subcommittee and the Committee on Research of the American College of Rheumatology, and actively serves on grant review committees at the National Institutes of Health (NIAMS/NIH).
About Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can range from mild to life-threatening. It is also a disease of flares and remissions that can affect the everyday lives of people with lupus.
About the Burden of Lupus Survey
The survey was conducted by Gfk Roper North America from July through September 2011. It involved 502 people who self reported that they had received a diagnosis of lupus, 204 supporters of people with lupus and 251 rheumatologists (physicians who specialize in treating lupus). The survey was sponsored by Human Genome Sciences and GlaxoSmithKline
