TRACE RA Trial

Dear NRAS members

I sit on the Steering Group of the TRACE RA Trial. This is a hugely important trial in the UK and the largest one involving people with RA. We have mentioned it previously in our magazine and you can access details about it on our website. However, we have a challenge to recruit the number of patients we need in the timeframe of the trial which is why I am writing to you today to make you aware of it. If you meet the criteria and are interested in taking part in this trial, please see the list attached of all the participating rheumatology units to see if your unit is on there. If it is and you would be interested to find out more about taking part, please call your nurse specialist at your hospital to discuss it. It’s important for all our futures and those of the 30,000 or so people who develop RA every year, that we find out the answer to the question the trial is asking. If you do meet the criteria and are interested to find out more, please do get in touch with your nurse, or call Hawys, the Trial Manager on the number below.

The following information will give you more details of the trial. Thank you very much.

Ailsa
CEO, NRAS

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) increases the risk of heart disease (mainly heart attack and stroke)
This may be due to the inflammation causing damage to blood vessels.

The TRACE RA trial (TRial of Atorvastatin for the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Events in Rheumatoid Arthritis) is a unique study and should answer an extremely important question. Statins have been proven to reduce cardiac events in at-risk populations due to their cholesterol-lowering properties and also possibly through an anti-inflammatory effect. RA patients have previously been mostly excluded from statin trials and so it is unclear whether this benefit occurs in this patient group. TRACE RA hopes to answer this question and, with the additional information being collected, will provide valuable insight into how to direct future research projects in RA.

The TRACE RA Study has recruited nearly 2000 patients which is the largest number of patients ever entered into an Arthritis Research Campaign (arc) funded trial. Whilst this is commendable and the TRACE RA team are very grateful, the challenge still remains to recruit 4000 patients by March 2011.

This 5 year trial, jointly funded by the arc and the British Heart Foundation, is led by Professors George Kitas (Dudley), Jill Belch (Dundee) and Deborah Symmons (Manchester). There are now 105 Rheumatology departments across the UK actively involved in recruiting patients. Please find enclosed with this email a list of all of our participating sites.

To participate in the study, patients are required to either:
1) Have RA and be at least 50 years old
or
2) Be under 50 years old but have had RA for over 10 years.

Patients who are already on a statin, or whose GP thinks they should be on a statin will not be able to take part.

Further information is available at http://www.dgoh.nhs.uk/tracera or from the Trial Manager, Hawys Williams, on 0161 275 5639 or hawys.williams@manchester.ac.uk


TRACE RA Participating Centres

1 Russells Hall Hospital Dudley Group of Hospitals
2 Ninewells Hospital, Dundee
3 Macclesfield General Hospital
4 Worcestershire Royal Hospital
5 Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
6 Aintree University Hospital
7 Cannock Chase Hospital
8 Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary, NHS Forth Valley Acute
9 Altnagelvin Hospital
10 City Hospital, Dudley & Sandwell
11 Freeman Hospital, Newcastle
12 Nevill Hall Hospital, Abergavenny
13 Coventry & Warwickshire
14 Glasgow Royal Infirmary
15 Arrowepark Wirral Hospital
16 Derbyshire Royal Infirmary
17 Guy's Hospital, London
18 Blackburn Royal Infirmary
19 Nuffield Orthopaedic Ctr, Oxford
20 Queens Hospital, Romford
21 Countess of Chester Hospital
22 Poole Hospital
23 King's College London
24 Royal Preston Hospital
25 Royal Cornwall Hospital, Truro
26 North Hampshire Hospital
27 Haywood Hospital, Stafford
28 Royal Glamorgan Hospital
29 QE & QM Hospital, East Kent
30 Hope Hospital, Salford Royal
31 Nottingham City Hospital
32 Raigmore Hospital Inverness
33 Ipswich Hospital
34 Selly Oak Hospital
35 Royal Sussex Hospital, Brighton
36 Chapel Allerton, Leeds
37 Solihull Hospital
38 Southend Hospital, Essex
39 Manchester Royal Infirmary
40 Southmead Hospital
41 Hairmyres Hospital, East Kilbride
42 Kings Mill Hospital, Sherwood For
43 Middlesborough, South Tees
44 Princess Royal Hospital, Telford
45 Musgrave Hospital and Belfast City Hospital
46 Warwick Hospital
47 University Hospital Durham
48 St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust
49 Hinchingbrooke, West Suffolk
50 Western General Hospital, E'burgh
Centre ID Centre Name
51 East Surrey Hospital
52 Christchurch Hospital
53 Perth Royal Infirmary
54 Royal Hallamshire, Sheffield
55 Llandudno General Hospital
56 Wexham Park Hospital, Slough
57 Royal Lancaster Infirmary
58 Withington Community Hospital
59 King George Hospital
60 Southport Hospital
61 Cumberland Royal Infirmary, North Cumbria
62 St Peters Hospital, Ashford and St Peters Hospital, Chertsey
63 West Suffolk Hospital (Bury St Edmunds)
64 Bradford Royal
65 Borders General
66 Stoke Mandeville
67 Queens Hospital, Burton Upon Trent
68 Stobhill Hospital
69 Tameside General Hospital
70 Stepping Hill Hospital
71 Maidstone Hospital
72 Trafford General, Manchester
73 Ashford Hospital, Ashford and St Peters Hospital
74 Lynebank Hospital, Dunfermline, NHS Fife
75 Ulster Hospital
76 Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen
77 St Albans, West Hertfordshire Hospitals
78 James Paget Hospital
79 Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge
80 Norwich Hospital
81 Blackpool Victoria/Clifton Hospital
82 Watford Hospital
83 Wolverhampton Hospital
84 Basildon and Thurrock University Hospital
85 Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead
86 Wansbeck General Hospital
87 Wrightington Hospital
88 Edith Cavell, Peterborough
89 St James University Hospital, Leeds
90 Luton and Dunstable
91 Yeovil Hospital
92 City Hospitals Sunderland
93 Crawley Hospital
94 Milton Keynes
95 North Manchester
96 North Tyneside
97 Abertawe Bro Morgannwg
98 Royal Berkshire
99 Leighton Hospital, Crewe
100 Weston General, Weston Super Mare
101 Harrogate District Foundation Trust
102 Fairfield General Hospital, Bury
103 West Middlesex Hospital
104 Barts and London NHS Trust
105 Pembury Hospital & Kent & Sussex Hospital