View clinical trials related to Arthritis.
Filter by:Research has shown that people with arthritis can improve their ability to cope with arthritis pain with the help of patient education programs, which teach people things they can do to help manage their disease. However, we do not know much about the effects of arthritis patient education programs on minorities, such as urban African Americans. We will gather participants for this project through a faith-based community network. The project is made up of four studies that will provide information about culturally relevant ways of reaching urban African Americans with arthritis and providing patient education that addresses arthritis care needs of the African American community. This project will also provide information on the effectiveness of an arthritis self-help course for urban African Americans. We hope to better understand the differences among cultural groups and how these differences should affect the design of culturally appropriate patient education.
This study looks at how the arthritis drug methotrexate works in low doses to treat rheumatoid arthritis. (High doses of methotrexate are used to treat some types of cancer.) Methotrexate blocks the action of the B-vitamin known as folic acid. We are studying the biochemical reactions affected by this vitamin because we think that blocking many of these reactions may be necessary for methotrexate to work in treating rheumatoid arthritis. Through these studies, we hope to gain a better understanding of how this drug and related drugs work as treatments for arthritis.