Now there's a place you can go to share what it's like to live with arthritis, help others who suffer from similar conditions, and get your questions answered by doctors and people who have personal experience coping with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and other rheumatic diseases. Introducing the Arthritis Internet Registry.
The National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases, Arthritis Foundation, Quest Diagnostics, and Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School researchers have all joined forces to create and maintain the Arthritis Internet Registry (AIR). The purpose of the registry is to collect as much information as possible from people with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, lupus and other rheumatic diseases and contain it in a single, centralized data bank that can be accessed by the researchers. AIR was also formed to create a community of people with the common interest of improving treatment and the common goal of finding cures for arthritic conditions.
The website for the National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases is http://www.arthritis-research.org. From here, you can link to the registry or, if you're not ready to do that yet, you can read up on current research findings and get some tips about arthritis care. You can also submit questions to a rheumatologist or review the questions and answers that have already been presented and are shared on the site.
In exchange for contributing your thoughts, medical information, and experiences with arthritis treatments to the registry, you will become part of a vast network of more than 10,000 patients, doctors, and researchers linked together to get as much up-to-date information out to everyone concerned in an easily accessible manner. You will also be contributing to the growing body of research and knowledge that exists about these debilitating conditions.
The more information you contribute, the more you can help the cause, but if you choose to register, you can also choose to respond only to questions you feel comfortable answering. You participate only as long as you want to, and you can drop out at any time. Once you sign up, you will be put on a list to receive an updated research newsletter twice a year so you can see how the researchers are using the information you provide and the ways in which that information may help them find solutions.
Sources:
Arthritis Foundation: Arthritis Internet Registry. 2012. Web.
http://www.arthritis.org/arthritis-internet-registry.php
National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases: Arthritis Internet Registry. 2012. Web
http://www.arthritis-research.org/join-research/arthritis-internet-registry
