Rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, lupus, osteoarthritis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis, affect 18 million people in the UK and account for more than 20% of GP consultations.
More than 30% of people with inflammatory rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases do not respond to treatment. These conditions are also associated with multi-morbidity (two or more long-term health conditions) and premature death.
We aim to improve the prevention and treatment of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases and associated co-morbidities by developing personalised health and care strategies.
Our Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases Theme contains four programmes:
- Prevention of disease and co-morbidities
- Defining tractable molecular endotypes using multi-omics
- Translation of advances from basic science to improve treatment of disease
- Optimising response to available therapies
Key priorities for our research programmes have been shaped by our Research User Network, Youth Advisory Network, children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis and their parents, and charities, including Versus Arthritis, Juvenile Arthritis Research, Lupus UK and Scleroderma and Raynaud’s UK.