Beyond Remission WP2
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Remote monitoring for rheumatoid arthritis flare during drug tapering
IRAS ID
330151
Contact name
Kenneth Baker
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN14472047
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 2 months, 29 days
Research summary
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common disease affecting 1 in 100 adults in the UK causing joint pain, stiffness and fatigue. Modern arthritis drugs can “switch off” the disease (known as remission) in around two thirds of patients. However, these powerful drugs carry risks of serious side effects such as infection, need regular blood test monitoring and are expensive.
Recent research (including our own) has shown that up to half of patients with RA in remission can successfully reduce (taper) their arthritis drugs, meaning reduced medications, blood tests and side-effects for patients and reduced costs for healthcare providers. It is important to monitor patients closely during drug tapering, so that if an arthritis flare occurs this can be treated quickly. Currently the only way of doing this is examine their joints regularly in extra hospital visits, which are time-consuming and use up valuable hospital resources.
In this study, we aim to understand whether it is possible to detect arthritis flares remotely by measuring changes in physical activity. We will invite patients with RA who are tapering their drugs within our local NHS RheumatOid Arthritis DMard tAPering (ROADMAP) clinic at Newcastle Hospitals to take part in this study. Participants will wear a wristwatch like device (Axivity AX6) to record their physical activity, and complete a short two-minute weekly questionnaire about their arthritis symptoms. Participants can chose to take part for three months or six months – the measurements recorded will not be used to guide their clinical care. At the end of the study, we will look back to see if there were any changes in physical activity that happened before the onset of arthritis flares.
If successful, our study will take the first steps towards developing a new future technique for detecting arthritis flares without extra hospital visits.
REC name
Wales REC 5
REC reference
25/WA/0043
Date of REC Opinion
11 Feb 2025
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion