2024 Autoimmune Community Summit Session Recap
Everyday new studies come out telling us about new treatments, ties between diseases and more. In the session Understanding Complex Research, Dr. Carla Greenbaum talks about how research studies work and what to pay attention to to know if it was a good study or not.
Dr. Greenbaum breaks it down with an example of a study where they were testing the ability to predict whether or not someone has Type 1 Diabetes based on the antibodies that they have. 85% of the study participants who had multiple antibodies developed symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes. Walking through this study she explains how we can determine if this was a good study or not. First, is the study rigorous? They followed almost 600 people for a very long time, 15 years and very few people stopped participating in the study. Second, is the study robust? A similar study was done with another population that produced similar results. Lastly, is the study reproducible? Multiple studies, across different populations, at different times have been completed with similar results.
One of the focuses of the research being done by Benaroya Research Institute is how to modify disease at the first sign that it is present. Today most treatments are given too late in disease progression to prevent the disabling symptoms of disease like rheumatoid arthritis. However, there have been studies to show what happens if we treat Type 1 diabetes patients before they become clinical, meaning the patient was showing symptoms. This study proved that disease progression can be slowed by treating it as soon as we know the disease exists. Long term Dr. Greenbaum sees physicians and researchers testing entire families for antibodies before any or all of them become clinical allowing them to pre-treat patients and give them the best opportunities for treatment.
So what can we take away from the examples Dr. Greenbaum shared?
It is important to look at studies and how they were designed versus the published results. If those do not match, then be skeptical.
Studies should be:
Rigorous - A lot of people should be followed for a long time in regulated clinical studies
Robust - The same results were seen in different populations with different investigators
Reproducible - The same results appear over time in multiple parts of the world
Are the results clinically important or just statistically important? Both matter but as patients we want to know if they are clinically important.
You can learn more about her research and the Benaroya Research Institute here.
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