The Centre for Prognosis Studies in the Rheumatic Diseases is located in the Rheumatic Disease Unit of  The Toronto Hospital, Western Division.  With the opening of the Centre in October 1995, The Toronto Hospital has established the largest musculoskeletal unit in Canada.

The Centre for Prognosis Studies in the Rheumatic Diseases consolidates out-patient care, teaching and research in one geographic location.

A strong focus of the Centre is its use of "databank" research.  Databank research allows for long-term epidemiological study of rheumatic disorders, involving long-term observation and tabulation of clinical features, treatment and its effects on many patients over a long period of time.  The Centre staff includes rheumatology trainees, biostatisticians, database programmers and research assistants.  Members of this team have ties with the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatististics at the University of Toronto and Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science in Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo.

Current areas of study include Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, with The Lupus Databank Research Program being one of the largest databanks of its kind internationally, the Psoriatic Arthritis Research Program, and the Rheumatoid Arthritis Azathioprine Registry.   For more details.

A similar initiative has recently been undertaken to develop a similar databank program including patients with rheumatoid arthritis followed at The Toronto Hospital, and other rheumatic diseases such as fibromyalgia will be included in this databank research in future.
 

 Back to CPSRD Home Page