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Because women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are 5–8 times more likely to develop coronary heart disease (CHD) than are women in the general population, we assessed the prevalence of classic risk factors for CHD in women with SLE.

Consecutive female patients with SLE who were without evidence of CHD and were attending a large lupus clinic in Toronto were studied. The control population was recruited from among age‐matched subjects attending a family practice unit for an annual physical examination. The prevalence of classic CHD risk factors and the 10‐year risk of a CHD‐related event were determined using the Framingham risk assessment formula. Lipid subfractions, other metabolic risk factors, lifestyle variables, and demographic characteristics were also compared between the 2 groups.

We studied 250 SLE patients and 250 controls whose mean ± SD …