Treatment Preference RA v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
PREFER project case study: treatment preferences in individuals at risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis
IRAS ID
255418
Contact name
Marie Falahee
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
ERN_16-0858, UoB ERN number
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 4 months, 30 days
Research summary
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease causing joint stiffness, swelling, pain, fatigue, affecting approximately 1% of the population. Very early treatment of RA is associated with improved outcomes, including reduced joint damage. Some individuals (e.g. first degree relatives of RA patients) have an increased risk of developing RA and there is now considerable research interest in treating ‘at risk’ individuals to see whether a relatively short course of therapy will prevent or delay the onset of RA. As understanding of the preventive effectiveness of existing treatments for RA continues to grow, and the development of novel preventive treatments is a real possibility with increasing understanding of the aetiology of RA, it becomes very important to measure the preferences of ‘at risk’ individuals for preventive treatments. Understanding the factors that influence someone’s decision to take medication is especially important in preventive contexts, where there is uncertainty around not only the effectiveness and safety of a particular treatment, but also around the individual’s baseline risk of developing RA in the future.
It is further of value to understand societal views of preventive treatments for RA. In the current study we will use focus groups and survey methods to assess the preferences of first-degree relatives of RA patients and members of the public for hypothetical preventive treatments. All participants will be asked to imagine they have a high risk (40%) of developing RA within the next two years.
This study will also inform international recommendations on the integration of patient preferences into drug development (www.imi-prefer.eu) by comparing two methods used to measure treatment preferences, namely discrete choice experiment and probabilistic threshold technique. We will also compare the preferences of participants from two European countries (UK and Germany).REC name
London - Hampstead Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/0407
Date of REC Opinion
18 Mar 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion