What is StopRA?
StopRA is the first prevention research study for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) conducted in the United States. Read below for more information about what RA is, and how you can participate in StopRA.
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Who gets RA?
RA is present in approximately 1% of the general population, and around 3 million people in the USA have RA.
A higher rate of RA (~5%) may be seen in people who have a relative with RA.
RA is also more common in women.
How is RA diagnosed?
RA is diagnosed when a person has a combination of joint symptoms, synovitis on a joint examination, x-ray findings, and abnormal blood tests.
What blood tests are used to diagnose RA?
The most common blood tests used to diagnose RA are called ‘autoantibody tests’.
Normally, antibodies are proteins made by your body to help attack things that your body thinks are foreign or threatening, like infections. Sometimes, however, ‘autoantibodies’ develop that attack parts of your own body.
In RA, a common autoantibody found in the blood is called ‘anti-CCP’. If a blood level of anti-CCP is abnormal in the setting of synovitis, a diagnosis of RA can be made.
What does it mean to have a positive anti-CCP test but no synovitis?
Studies have shown that anti-CCP can be present in the blood on-average 3 to 5 years before the first synovitis of RA appears.
The time between when anti-CCP is detected in the blood and the first synovitis of RA is called Preclinical RA.
This means that blood levels of anti-CCP can be used to predict if someone may get RA in the future.
Current research shows that people with high levels of anti-CCP have a greater than 50% chance of developing RA within 3-5 years.
Currently, there are a range of medications used to treat RA once someone develops the synovitis of RA, although there are not yet any proven ways to prevent RA.
However, StopRA is studying if a medication called hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) that is already used in the treatment of RA, can prevent RA in people who have high levels of anti-CCP in their blood but don’t have synovitis or a diagnosis of RA.
How can you participate in RA prevention studies and StopRA?
You can participate in StopRA by first getting your blood tested for anti-CCP. Then, if your blood level of anti-CCP is high, you could participate in the medication part of StopRA.
StopRA will test anyone 18 years or older for anti-CCP.
However, because RA can run in families, StopRA is particularly interested in testing anti-CCP in family members of people who have RA.
However, because RA can run in families, StopRA is particularly interested in testing anti-CCP in family members of people who have RA.
StopRA can be found in various sites across the United States
To find a free RA screening location nearest you go here.