Projects
All of our projects have been established to answer questions that are important to patients living with musculoskeletal conditions.
Our projects are often supported by patient partners or patient and public involvement groups, with additional support from our research user group.
Featured projects
Cloudy with a Chance of Pain
A national smartphone study to investigate the link between weather and pain. 13,000 adults with long-term pain reported daily symptoms alongside local weather data captured using their phone’s GPS. The public can interact with the data and submit their hypotheses. Funder: Versus Arthritis.
Norfolk Arthritis Register (NOAR)
NOAR is a register of people with different types of inflammatory arthritis (IP). It is the world’s first true primary care-based cohort study of new cases of IP. Since 1990 more than 4,500 patients have been recruited. Funder: Versus Arthritis.
Quality of Life and Sleep in Rheumatoid Arthritis (QUASAR)
Participants wear an actigraphy monitor for 30 days to assess their sleep patterns and self-report via a mobile app to determine the contributions of sleep and circadian parameters, pain, fatigue and mood to quality of life. Funder: Versus Arthritis. Contact: sleepinra@manchester.ac.uk.
The British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Registers (BSRBR-RA)
BSRBR-RA is one of the largest prospective studies of rheumatoid arthritis patients receiving biologic/biosimilar drugs in the world. It aims to monitor the long-term safety of these drugs. It is a unique collaboration between the University, the BSR and the pharmaceutical industry.
You can also view all active research projects within the Centre below, and visit their websites to find out more information.
All projects and studies (by theme)
Occurrence and progression of disease
Childhood Arthritis Prospective Study
Aim: To study short and long-term outcomes among children with inflammatory arthritis.
Cloudy with a Chance of Pain
Aim: To examine the association between weather and pain using daily self-reported symptoms recorded via a smartphone app. Participants and the public can interact with the data to discover possible relationships and submit their hypotheses.
European Male Aging Study (EMAS)
Aim: To determine the occurrence, predictors and impact of musculoskeletal frailty in middle age and elderly men.
Koalap (Knee osteoarthritis: linking activity and pain)
Aims: To study the relationship between pain and physical activity in people living with knee osteoarthritis.
Koalap is based within the Cloudy with a Chance of Pain project, using smartwatches to collect symptoms and activity data over three months from 100 adults aged >50 with knee OA.
Lupus Extended Autoimmune Phenotype (LEAP) Study
Aims: To reconsider how we assess and classify patients with connective tissue disease according to the genes and inflammatory proteins which drive the process, rather than simply on their clinical diagnosis.
The aim of the study is to help us target therapies more effectively and aid the design of future therapeutic trials.
Norfolk Arthritis Register (NOAR)
Aim: To investigate the cause and outcome of adults with inflammatory polyarthritis (IP) over 20 years.
PREVENT RA
Aims: To study risk factors for the future onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a cohort of first degree relatives of RA patients.
REMORA (REmote MOnitoring of Rheumatoid Arthritis)
Aims: To co-design and implement a smartphone remote monitoring app that collects research quality data from patients with RA in between clinical appointments, and integrates the data into the electronic health record. Data therefore support self-management, clinical care and research.
Quality of Life, Sleep and RA (QUASAR)
Aims: To determine the relative contributions of sleep and circadian parameters, pain, fatigue and mood to Rheumatoid Arthritis Health Related Quality of Life (RA-HRQoL).
For 30 days participants will wear an actigraphy monitor that will assess their sleep patterns, and via a mobile app self-report their sleep, pain, fatigue and mood.
Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinic (SLICC) Cohort Studies
Aims: To study long-term outcomes in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and examine factors associated with selected long-term outcomes, including damage accrual.
UK Biobank
Aim: To use the national research resource UK Biobank to address important musculoskeletal questions whilst also supporting standardisation of musculoskeletal definitions.
EULAR-PRO
Aim: To investigate reliability, validity and recall periods of patient global measures to assess at-work limitations and productivity loss in patients with inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis.
EULAR-PRO is an international study comprising of two phases. Read the report from phase one.
Vocational development of young people with arthritis
Aim: To understand the impact of arthritis on the vocational development of young people with arthritis through secondary analysis of the Youth Health Talk website on arthritis
Effectiveness and safety of treatment
British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register (Rheumatoid Arthritis)
Aim:To study real-world effectiveness and safety of biologic therapies in rheumatoid arthritis, by capturing prospective real-world data from patients receiving biologic drugs via clinician reporting, patient diaries and linkage to population datasets.
Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Biologic Registers
Aim:To study real-world effectiveness and safety of biologic therapies in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
This programme includes two separately funded but parallel studies;
Biologics for Children with Rheumatic Diseases (BCRD) and the British Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology Etanercept Study (BSPAR-ETN).
BILAG BR
Aims: A long-term safety register of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) starting biologics therapy.
MASTERPLANS Consortium
Aim: To identify factors which predict low disease activity/remission in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) starting new therapy.
The Consortium includes 10 academic groups from various universities and nine industry partners.
Rheumatoid Arthritis Medication Study (RAMS)
Aim: To investigate response to methotrexate therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in the first year of treatment.
Glucocorticoid (GC) safety
Aim: To assess the influence of systemic glucocorticoid (steroid) therapy on a range of safety outcomes and their impact on quality of life.
Mining stories of patients’ experiences of medication side effects
Aim: To understand the impact of medication side effects on patients’ quality of life through analysis of online discussions within online health communities, including HealthUnlocked.
Opioid comparative safety and utilisation
Aims: To evaluate the comparative safety of opioids for non-cancer pain and opioid drug utilisation trends in primary care using electronic patient records.
Randomised trial of denosumab in knee osteoarthritis (DISKO)
Aim: To determine whether treatment with subcutaneous denosumab reduces pain and structural damage in knee osteoarthritis.
Randomised trial of insoles in knee osteoarthritis (InRespond)
Aim: To determine whether lateral wedge insoles reduce pain in symptomatic knee osteoarthritis.
Increasing physical activity for older people with pain (iPOPP trial)
Aim: To co-design and assess the acceptability and credibility of a brief behavioural change intervention to promote walking in older adults with chronic pain.