NRAS, partners with Inmedix to develop ‘Stress Matters’ resources

08 February 2022

The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS) proudly announces that thanks to funding provided by Inmedix, the charity is embarking on a project to develop resources explaining the impact of stress on developing or exacerbating rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. The project will include a UK nationwide survey of those living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) leading to the development of resources to help people manage and reduce the impact of stress on their inflammatory arthritis.

For more than 450,000 adults living with RA in the UK, the impact of stress on their disease can be very significant and lead to debilitating, and potentially irreversible damage as well as strain on mental and emotional health.

The ‘Stress Matters’ project aims to foster a better understanding of how stress triggers immune responses within the body and expand how patients and their clinicians can work together to reduce stress and its adverse impact on inflammatory arthritis.

Clare Jacklin, CEO of NRAS, comments: “We are delighted to be supported by a substantial hands-off grant from Inmedix to address what we have known for many years, that stress really does matter. Anecdotally we’ve heard hundreds if not thousands of stories from people with RA who indicate that a ‘stressful’ time in their lives triggered their RA and that during times of stress their disease tends to flare. To date we have not had the resources to address this very important and poorly understood link between the immune system triggering inflammatory responses and stress. Thanks to this funding we hope to carry out, working alongside an academic partner, a nationwide study to gather real world evidence on the link between stress and RA”

Healthcare professionals are under tremendous pressure in today’s NHS due to the pandemic, backlogs and staff shortages. Supported self-management is key for people living with long-term, incurable conditions like RA in not only supporting the individual but the entire health system. The Stress Matters resources will be developed to provide tips and techniques to better self-manage stress levels and provide information about potential treatments and therapies to reduce stress.

Andrew Holman, CEO and co-founder of Inmedix, comments:

“Inmedix Inc., and its subsidiary Inmedix UK Ltd., are delighted to support the exceptional leadership of NRAS and their Stress Matters project. For two decades, we have been particularly interested in how stress biology within the brain appears to play a measurable and actionable role not for only RA activity and treatment response, but also its onset.”

He continues, saying:

“NRAS is a very special charity intensely dedicated to supporting individuals with RA and their families. And first and foremost, it is the patient who is most capable of sharing their keen, personal insights to provide opportunities and strategies to advance the mission of controlling, and eventually preventing, RA.”

Andrew Holman, CEO and co-founder of Inmedix