Ulster to Be Centre for Study of Arthritis ; Major Clinical Trial Planned.
Posted on: Wednesday, 9 March 2005, 12:00 CST
Ulster doctors are to head up a major UK-wide medical study that will dramatically improve the lives of tens of thousands of children suffering from crippling conditions across the world, it can be revealed today.The Belfast Telegraph can reveal that Northern Ireland has been chosen as the location for a multi-centre clinical trial into arthritis and other rheumatic diseases in children.The [Pound]500,000 study will be co-ordinated at Musgrave Park Hospital in Belfast.Dr Madeleine Rooney, senior lecturer at the Queen's University, Belfast, and a consultant rheumatologist at Musgrave Park, is heading up a trial, which aims to reduce osteopaenia (brittle bones) in youngsters who are taking steroids to treat their diseases.Medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign is funding the three-year clinical trial on behalf of the British Society of Paediatric and Academic Rheumatology. More than 250 children aged between four and 18 will be recruited in Belfast and in nine other participating hospitals in the UK over the next year.The team hope their research will lead to new guidelines on the treatment of steroid-induced osteopaenia, which will improve the lives of the tens of thousands of children with arthritis who are affected throughout the world.Steroids are widely used in the treatment of childhood arthritis and other related conditions, such as lupus, juvenile dermatomyositis or vasculitis. But the down side of these drugs is that they cause thinning of the bones. More than 50% of children who take steroids develop osteopaenia within a year.The randomised, double blind, placebo-controlled trial will compare the effectiveness of risedronate, a bisphosphonate drug which protects against bone loss, with 1-Alpha (a more potent form of Vitamin D than the usual supplement) , on the bone density of the children over a 12 month period. A third group of youngsters will receive a placebo (dummy) drug.
More than 12,000 children and teenagers have juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Around 400 of them live in Northern Ireland.
Source: Belfast Telegraph
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