Arthritis trial to test out heart drugs

7:00pm Wednesday 11th June 2008

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RHEUMATOID arthritis patients who attend Christchurch Hospital are being invited to take part in a major new UK-wide clinical trial backed by two charities.

Forty of them are being recruited into the study to find out if cholesterol-busting drugs called statins reduce the death rate from heart attacks and strokes.

People with rheumatoid arthritis have a bigger risk of dying from cardiovascular complications than the general population, but few are routinely prescribed the drugs.

The five-year, £1.1 million trial will involve 3,800 people in centres around the country.

It is being jointly funded by the Arthritis Research Campaign and British Heart Foundation.

Dr Neil Hopkinson, the consultant rheumatologist leading the local research team, said: "It has been known for some time that there is a link between rheumatoid arthritis and cardiovascular mortality.

"This may be due to early and more advanced blood vessel damage due to high levels of inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis."

Most previous trials of statins have not included people with rheumatoid arthritis, an auto-immune disease that causes inflammation in the joints.

For the past few years, statins have been routinely given to people after a heart attack to lower the risk of them having a second.

New guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence extended their use to a further three million people assessed by GPs as having a 20 per cent higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease over the next decade.

For the study, more than 60 rheumatology departments will be recruiting patients over 50, or who have had rheumatoid arthritis for more than 10 years and are not eligible for statins under current NICE guidance.

They will be given either a statin or placebo, plus advice on how to reduce their risk of heart disease by exercise, eating healthily and stopping smoking.