Clinical Epidemiology
(Lead: Professor Deborah Symmons, Deputy: Professor Ian Bruce)
Work in this division is focused on identifying risk factors for onset and outcome of:
- Inflammatory musculoskeletal diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, including studies of the influence of treatment on disease outcome using observational studies and clinical trials;
- Non-inflammatory common musculoskeletal disorders including osteoarthritis, regional and widespread pain disorders, bone health and frailty, and interventions to reduce levels of pain and frailty;
The division is composed of the following groups:
- Outcome Studies Group
- Norfolk Arthritis Register (Professor Deborah Symmons), which is the largest primary care derived cohort of early inflammatory arthritis in adults
- Childhood Arthritis Prospective Study (Professor Wendy Thomson), which is a large five centre prospective study of juvenile arthritis
- Outcome studies in SLE (Professor Ian Bruce) and Systemic Sclerosis (Professor Ariane Herrick)
- Cardiovascular Group (Professor Ian Bruce)
- studying the causes and consequences of accelerated atherosclerosis in inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions
- Pharmacoepidemiology Group (Dr Kimme Hyrich)
- British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register (the largest prospective observational study of the safety and clinical effectiveness of biologic agents), BSPAR Biologics Register, BILAG Biologics Register
- Large randomised controlled clinical trials in inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions
- Musculoskeletal Health across the Life Span
- Aims to identify the role of lifestyle, hormonal and genetic factors in explaining levels of bone mass and age related bone loss and fractures in aging men and women (Professor Terence O'Neill)
- Main focus of our pain research is to identify modifiable risk factors that are associated with the onset and persistence of common musculoskeletal pain disorders including low back pain and chronic widespread pain (Dr John McBeth)
- Research in OsteoArthritis Manchester (ROAM study) (Professor David Felson)
- Developing new treatment approaches
- Rehabilitation Science (Professor Jackie Oldham)
- The Centre for Rehabilitation Science focuses on allied health professionals contribution to alleviation of pain, treatment reponse and management of frailty in older age
