CALGARY- A new study is trying to find a better way to determine the right medication for arthritis sufferers—who aren’t always elderly.
Maria Storkova was just eight-years-old when she developed the autoimmune disease.
“First I was playing soccer and my ankles were hurting, and then I was playing piano and my fingers were a little stiff,” remembers the now 11-year-old. “Almost exactly a year later, my knee actually started hurting.”
Until the 90s, many children with arthritis ended up in wheelchairs, but new medications have provided an alternative. But while there are about two dozen on the market, they don’t work for everyone.
“Kids are responding differently to different treatments, and some of the kids develop quite significant side effects,” explains Dr. Heinrike Schmeling, a pediatric rheumatologist with the Alberta Children’s Hospital. “They can suffer a lot of pain, they have ongoing swelling, they cannot walk adequately.”
Researchers in Toronto and Germany have started collecting genetic samples from pediatric arthritis patients, looking for ways to help doctors find the right medications sooner.
“The goal is to find for the individual child the best treatment and the safest treatment.”
Researchers hope to recruit about 300 children in Calgary, to help with the study.
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