Posted on February 21, 2002 at 11:00 a.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — A study under way at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) aims to establish a national registry of African Americans with early rheumatoid arthritis. UAB will receive $4.6 million over the next three years from the National Institutes of Health to identify and register at least 600 African Americans with the disease.

“Until now, studies investigating the cause and development of the disease have not included a fair representation of African Americans,” says Dr. Larry Moreland, professor of medicine with the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology at UAB. “The registry will play a vital role in our understanding of how the disease develops and progresses in African Americans.”

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory condition in which the body's immune system attacks its own healthy cells and tissues. It most often affects cartilage and bone and usually results in joint disease. More than six million people in the U.S. — mostly women — have the disease.

Researchers suspect that the disease may be fundamentally different in blacks than in whites. “We have data to suggest that the genetics of African Americans with rheumatoid arthritis is different from that of whites, but it has not been proven in clinical trials,” Moreland says. “The registry will provide a basis for further study.”

Researchers at UAB are working with physicians throughout Alabama to identify potential candidates for the registry. “For the registry to be successful, it is important that clinicians throughout the state be willing to help in identifying patients so that all African Americans with rheumatoid arthritis can be entered into the registry.

Participation in the registry consists of exams every six months, including blood tests and x-rays, and a written survey. "Patients don't have to come to UAB," Moreland says. “We will travel to their physician's office to conduct the exams."

Moreland and Dr. Louis Bridges, Jr., associate professor of medicine with the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology at UAB, serve as lead investigators for the project. Collaborating institutions are the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia., and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

For more information or to refer a patient, contact Program Coordinator Luevenia Barnes at (205) 975-7238.