December 2009 - The British Society for Rheumatology

Other|News
www.rheumatology.org.uk
TRACE RA update
The TRACE RA trial (TRial of Atorvastatin for the Primary Prevention
of Cardiovascular Events in Rheumatoid Arthritis) has recruited its
1,300 th patient. This is a great achievement for the largest
network of rheumatology research collaborators ever put together
in the UK, to whom the TRACE RA team owe great thanks. However,
the challenge remains very high and this achievement needs to be
built upon over the coming months in order to achieve the target of
3,800 patients by the end of 2010. This will only be possible with
the continuing commitment of patients and colleagues within the
100 participating centres.
There are long proven benefits of statins to reduce cardiac events in
at-risk populations due to their cholesterol-lowering properties or
possibly through an anti-inflammatory effect. Due to RA patients being
previously mostly excluded from statin trials it is unclear whether this
benefit occurs in this patient group.
This five year trial, jointly funded by arc and the British Heart
Foundation, is led by Professors George Kitas, Jill Belch and Deborah
Symmons. It investigates whether atorvastatin is more effective than
placebo in the prevention of cardiovascular events in RA patients.
The trial also incorporates two sub-studies, all on the UKCRN portfolio.
TRACE RA-DAS investigates the hypothesis that atorvastatin is more
effective than placebo as adjunctive therapy in reducing RA disease
activity. TRACE RA-Biobank will provide a rich resource for future
mechanistic studies.
For further information, please go to www.dgoh.nhs.uk/tracera or
contact the Trial Manager, Hawys Williams, on 0161 2755639 or
hawys.williams@manchester.ac.uk
BSPAR Update
The British Society of Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology
(BSPAR) Autumn meeting in Liverpool brought together many
members of the paediatric rheumatology community for a
successful meeting.
An away day for the Clinical Affairs Committee set priorities for the
group; this was open to all BSPAR membership and is to become an
annual event. Priorities set include: development of standards of care
and their assessment to support service development; clinical support
with guidelines and patient information leaflets; peer review and
support for effective clinical networks.
The BSPAR Standards of Care for Juvenile Arthritis are now available on
the BSPAR website and an audit tool is being developed, these will be
linked to new ARMA standards of care. The nursing group is growing
and has an annual meeting to support their development.
The BSPAR Etanercept Biologics Registry continues to recruit patients
and collect data during a period of transition and an anticipated move
to Manchester. A further study is looking at the use of other biologics in
paediatric rheumatology. A list of BSPAR research projects is available
on the website. Research is strongly encouraged for junior trainees in
paediatric rheumatology, the ARC/Barbara Ansell fellowship offers
funding for one year for trainees wishing to experience research in the
field. It is advisable for trainees to consider this even prior to clinical
experience in the specialty.
The BSPAR website is anticipating a face lift, improving sharing of
information among professionals, to support the busy sub-committees,
encourage membership involvement and disseminate publications and
useful pieces of work. An area for public access and patient information
is also proposed.
Please visit www.bspar.org.uk for more information.
NRAS World Arthritis Day parliamentary events
This year, World Arthritis Day focused on the theme of the
challenges of work. Over the last few years NRAS has been
engaging with policymakers to ensure that patients with RA are
supported in staying in or getting back to work. The aim of our
parliamentary events this year was to raise MPs’ awareness of
the developments that have been taking place in this area and
the challenges that remain for people with RA of working age.
implementing the Government’s Work, Health and Wellbeing
strategy. Steve Bevan, MD of the Work Foundation also presented a
summary of the pan-European study he has been leading on the
impact of musculoskeletal disorders on the workplace. The session
was chaired by Jenny Snell, Government Affairs Manager, NRAS and
also included NRAS volunteer Jean Burke’s account of being
diagnosed at age 39 when she was at the peak of her career.
We held a ‘drop in’ event during the afternoon of 13 October in
Portcullis House to enable MPs to call in and meet with both
representatives of NRAS and some of their members. Over 50 MPs
attended during the afternoon and were keen to hear our members’
personal stories about coping with RA in the workplace and what
impact it had on their ability to remain working. A photo opportunity
enabled the MPs to raise awareness in their local constituency and
highlight their support for WAD in the local media.
Following the drop in event key parliamentarians joined
representatives form the Department of Health, National Audit Office
and eminent clinicians and allied health professionals to hear an
update from Professor Dame Carol Black, National Director for
Health and Work on the progress that has been made in
Professor David G I Scott, Dr Deborah Bax and
Professor David Isenberg at the NRAS World Arthritis Day
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