Addenbrooke’s Hospital recruits 1000th patient to UK-wide statin trial

Researchers at Addenbrooke’s Hospital have helped a UK-wide statin trial to reach a significant milestone by recruiting the 1000th patient.

 

The TRACE RA trial aims to find out if taking statins reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. People with RA have an increased risk of cardiovascular complications compared with the general population.

 

 

Statins are long-proven to reduce cardiac events and death in ‘at-risk’ populations but it is not known whether this benefit occurs in a highly inflammatory condition like RA, as people with the disease have been excluded from all previous statin trials.

 

TRACE RA is jointly funded by two leading medical research charities, the Arthritis Research Campaign and the British Heart Foundation, and is the largest academically-led trial to ever be conducted in RA patients in the world.

 

The local research team at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, led by Dr Frances Hall, is part of a UK collaboration of around 100 hospitals who are working together to recruit a total of 4000 patients to the trial by the end of next year.

 

The 1,000th patient is Barry Barber, aged 64, from Cross Green, Wicken, in Ely. He said: “Even though I’ve had RA for several years, I didn’t know previously of the link between the condition and cardiovascular disease. I wanted to take part in the trial because I hoped it would help in some way, as it’s obviously a hugely important study which could have great significance to the way people with RA are treated.”

 

Dr Hall said: ‘We are delighted to have recruited the 1000th patient in this ambitious and trial, which, we hope, will guide our future management of the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.”

 

Scotsdales Garden Centre donated a rose bush which was presented to Mr Barry to mark his 1000th patient status.

 

The trial’s chief investigator Professor George Kitas, of the Dudley Group of Hospitals said: ‘We congratulate and thank Addenbrooke’s for their achievement as the trial would not be possible without our local collaborators and research participants. This is a significant milestone of this pivotal trial, having recruited more patients than ever before to a rheumatology trial. We hope that, with help from all 100 rheumatology centres that are taking part in TRACE RA, this success will continue so that we reach our target of almost 4000 patients that need to be recruited.’

 

Doctors running the trial, which is currently recruiting patients, said that if statins were shown to be effective in reducing cardio-vascular deaths in rheumatoid arthritis, most patients with this condition should be put on the drugs as a matter of course.

 

The trial is seeking participation from RA patients over the age of 50 or with RA for more than 10 years, irrespective of their age, who have not been judged eligible for statins as per their hospital’s local routine practice. They will be given either a statin or a placebo, in addition to any other treatment they require for their arthritis and will all receive advice on how to reduce the risk of heart disease by exercising, eating healthily and stopping smoking. They will be followed up for around five years.

 

> TRACE RA

 

TRACE RA Manager: Hawys Williams

Tel: 0161 275 5639.

 

 

 

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