WP2 - Cohorts

Objectives

WP2 will provide a platform for the analysis of existing and future cohorts of individuals at-risk for developing RA. Next to clinical, also ethical and patient-centered considerations of the at-risk state will be addressed in this work package. WP2 will first focus on the existing cohorts of at-risk individuals established by the RTCure partners in order to define the individual clinical, laboratory and imaging parameters, which were collected in these cohorts for defining the “at-risk” state. This strategy will allow identification of a core set of parameters, which are agreed as essential when collecting data from at-risk individuals. In addition, parameters will be defined, which are shown or at least considered to be associated with a higher risk of progression from the non-arthritic pre-phase of the disease into the clinical arthritic phase of the disease.

These data from the first part of WP2 will then be used for establishing a prospective cohort of individuals at-risk for developing RA, where a harmonized data collection will be implemented among the RTCure partners. This approach will particularly focus on a better definition of risk factors determining the progression from the at-risk stage into the clinical stage of the disease. This action will profit from the larger samples size and the homogeneous data collection due to the participation of several different centers, and aims to improve the selection of individuals for future preventive interventional studies.

Our specific goals are as follows:

1. To define a core data set of assessments in patients at-risk to develop RA

2. To develop algorithms for the transition from the at-risk stage to RA

3. To establish a joint prospective cohort of at-risk individuals

4. To produce information and discussion materials to be used at the clinics for individuals at-risk to develop RA.