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  • What We've Learned
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Rheumatology Research
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Scientific Study Title:
Towards Addressing Equity Considerations in Research and Care of Patients with Inflammatory Arthritis (ACCESS)
Start Date:
  • 2022
End Date:
  • 2023
Research Category
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Why did we do this research?

We saw a lack of diverse groups studied in rheumatology research. We did this work to emphasize that rheumatology research should include patients who represent factors often called determinants of health inequities e.g., gender, sex, race, education. This is especially true in conditions like rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). These issues can contribute to differences in treatment leading to unfairness in health results. By looking at these differences, researchers can improve what they learn because a greater variety of people will be included. Our work may help make the results of research apply to more patients and improve the impact of research on healthcare.

What did we do?

Our team did three literature reviews for our scoping review. We wanted to see how researchers in the articles we found described issues connected to differences in care and treatment. We picked research articles published between 1990 and 2023. We looked at the ways researchers described patients in Canadian randomized controlled trials (the most influential type of research). These are the types of arthritis we looked at.

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA)

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)

We searched various databases for articles.

What did we find?

The literature reviews showed us that in research studies in Canada, we don’t see many details about what the participants are like. These details are lacking particularly in randomized controlled trials on JIA, RA, and SLE. Health inequities make a difference to care results. We did not see enough details in the studies we found about why different groups might have different results.

In most of these studies, we found only gender, sex, and age listed.

In the 3 literature reviews, we found out:

The Research Team

Principal Investigators

  • Mary De Vera, PhD, Senior Scientist, Arthritis Research Canada (University of British Columbia)
  • Megan Thomas , PhD Candidate, Arthritis Research Canada Trainee (University of British Columbia)

Co-Investigators

  • Mark Harrison, PhD, Affiliate Scientist, Arthritis Research Canada (University of British Columbia)

Additional Project Investigators

  • Niloofar Gheshlaghi (University of British Columbia)
  • John Esdaile, MD, MPH, Scientific Director Emeritus, Arthritis Research Canada (University of British Columbia)
  • Antonio Avina-Zubieta, MD, PhD, Senior Scientist, Arthritis Research Canada (University of British Columbia)
  • Cheryl Barnabe, MD, MSc, FRCPC, Senior Scientist, Arthritis Research Canada (University of Calgary)

Patient Partners

  • Natasha Trehan, Arthritis Patient Advisory Board of Arthritis Research Canada
  • Anna Samson
  • Michael Kuluva

Media and Infographics

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