ACR Meeting

November 4-9, 2011

McCormick Place Convention Center, Chicago

The Research Partnership recently presented a poster at the ACR Annual Scientific Meeting held in Chicago on 4-9 November.  The poster, entitled “Doctor-Patient Involvement in Biologic Treatment Choice: the Benefits of a Collaborative Approach” analysed the findings of two quantitative market research studies in rheumatoid arthritis, one amongst patients and one amongst rheumatologists, to investigate the demographic make-up of patients who are more likely to be pro-active about their treatment. Katrina Johnson, Director of Therapy KnowlEdge, attended the meeting and presented the poster.

The patient study, which is called “Living with RA” was undertaken by over 2,200 patients in the US and 5 EU markets amongst patients with moderate to severe RA. The study seeks to understand what life is like dealing with the illness from the patient perspective, looking at the impact on life, relationship with their doctor and other healthcare professionals, treatment programes, attitudes to compliance and health and exercise, as well as their needs, hopes and desires for future treatment.

The physician data was taken from a panel of rheumatologists in an ongoing online quantitative tracking programme called Therapy KnowlEdge RA - using a subset of over 5,800 patient chart records collected in the same period.

Commenting on the study, Katrina said, “We attend the ACR Conference every year and were delighted to be contributing this year. Our patient study uncovered some interesting insights about the impact and importance of the relationship between rheumatologists and their RA patients’ mentality towards their treatments."