Rheumatoid Arthritis Comorbidity: Bone Health in Men and African Americans

University of Nebraska

Status: Completed

Conditions: Rheumatoid Arthritis

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT00595894

0028-03-ET

5K23AR050004-04 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The objective of the proposed study is to assess bone health and determinants of bone health among select subpopulations of rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Full description

The overall hypothesis of this study is that osteopenia and/or osteoporosis are common among African Americans and men with rheumatoid arthritis and there are identifiable genetic and environmental factors contributing to the pathogenesis of bone loss in these groups.

The Specific Aims of the study are to:

1. Determine baseline hip and lumbar spine bone density (BMD) values and osteopenia/osteoporosis prevalence among African American men and women with early RA and among male veterans with established RA.
2. Identify environmental factors and candidate alleles, which confer increased risk of reduced baseline BMD loss over time among African American men and women with early RA and among male veterans with established RA.

Enrollment: 1,745 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 19+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Clinical diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis per ACR guidelines

Exclusion criteria

• Patients with diagnosis > 2yrs (CLEAR study)

Trial design

1,745 participants in 2 patient groups

1 CLEAR participants - African Americans with early rheumatoid arthritis

Description:

CLEAR enrollees include African American patients with early rheumatoid arthritis, as defined using ACR criteria

2 VARA participants - male veterans with established rheumatoid arthritis

Description:

VARA enrollees will include male veterans with established RA diagnosed using ACR criteria