UMC Utrecht has received a European grant of six million euros for an international study into the use of artificial intelligence as a decision aid in the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis that is difficult to treat. The STRATA-FIT study aims to use artificial intelligence to develop mathematical models that better recognize patient characteristics. It increases the chance that the patient will receive a successful, tailor-made treatment.
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Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can be difficult to treat in some patients and some continue to have symptoms despite advances in treatment with modern anti-rheumatic drugs. RA can have high costs and serious medical consequences, for example permanent damage to joints. That is why it is important to find good treatment for this group as well. The ability to properly identify and treat patients with difficult-to-treat RA is a major challenge in daily practice. Decisions about starting antirheumatic drugs in this group of patients are often made more or less arbitrarily. These decisions are therefore also insufficiently geared to the medical and biological characteristics of the individual patient. In the future, doctors expect a lot from artificial intelligence in order to make better treatment choices for these patients.
mathematical models
Of STRATA-FIT (Stratification of Rheumatoid Arthritis: CompuTational models to personalise mAnagement strategies for difFIcult-to-Treat disease) study aims to use artificial intelligence to develop mathematical models. These models recognize characteristics of patients with difficult-to-treat RA. The researchers use large amounts of patient data from daily practice and measure marker substances for RA in blood samples. This allows them to further characterize certain patient groups and classify them into groups. They will then conduct a study with a decision model developed using artificial intelligence. With this, the researchers assess the efficacy of such personalized treatments. They are also developing a mathematical model to determine whether patients with a recent diagnosis of RA have an increased risk of developing a difficult-to-treat form of the disease. In the long term, this will allow doctors not only to better treat patients with difficult-to-treat RA, but perhaps also to prevent the disease from turning into a difficult-to-treat form in patients with RA recently diagnosed.
Kick-off
The principal investigator of STRATA-FIT is rheumatologist Prof. Dr. Jaap van Laar. The study coordinator is methodologist Dr. Paco Welsing. They both work at the Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology at UMC Utrecht. Jaap van Laar says: “The STRATA-FIT Consortium was launched on 30 May. The kick-off meeting took place in Milan, at the same time as the most important annual European Rheumatology Congress. All research partners and patient representatives participated on behalf of the European Rheumatologists Association EULAR. the plans were discussed in detail, including the important first steps in the project. Interconnections between the different tasks were exposed. At the end of the meeting, all participants were on the same page regarding the planning and implementation of this exciting project led by the University Medical Center Utrecht.”
Treatment of difficult-to-treat RA improved
In recent years, the treatment of patients with RA has improved significantly. Nevertheless, some patients continue to have complaints, despite treatment with modern anti-rheumatic drugs as recommended by the European Association of Rheumatologists. Difficult to treat RA is an inflammatory disease with various manifestations and causes. The main problem is that the disease is difficult to control with patients having a reduced quality of life. They also run the risk of permanent damage to the joints. High healthcare costs arise because patients often have to visit specialists and have to be admitted to hospital on a regular basis. A recent study estimates that five to twenty percent of all patients with RA suffer from a difficult-to-treat form of the disease.
When is STRATA-FIT a success?
If STRATA-FIT is successful, it will lead to better treatment of patients with difficult-to-treat RA. It also greatly improves the quality of life of these patients, at lower healthcare costs. For this study – which will take six years – the UMC Utrecht will receive two million euros via the European Commission (out of a total budget of 6.1 million euros). The STRATA-FIT consortium builds on previous studies in difficult-to-treat RA. It brings together rheumatologists, patients and experts in clinical, biological, data and computer sciences to tackle this major challenge.
Can I participate in this research?
The STRATA-FIT study uses routine clinical data (such as demographic data and laboratory results) previously obtained from patients under treatment at one of the participating hospitals. As a result, no new patients are needed for this study and they cannot therefore register for participation in this study.
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2023-08-23 11:01:11
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