Breakthrough could transform eye condition screening for children with arthritis

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. This new discovery has the potential to enable clinicians to screen for genetic changes when a young person is first diagnosed with JIA Prof Lucy Wedderburn Now, researchers working in the Cluster Consortium, a UK-wide project led by experts at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and the University of Manchester, have identified genetic markers in JIA patients which show that some may be more at risk of uveitis than others. “The frequencies of these variants were different between people with uveitis compared to those people without uveitis.” Lucy Wedderburn, a professor of paediatric rheumatology at UCL and consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital, said: “This new discovery has the potential to enable clinicians to screen for genetic changes when a young person is first diagnosed with JIA. The idea of identifying uveitis early using a simple test would be groundbreaking – the reduction in taking unnecessary medications, needless time spent at screening appointments and the alleviation of anxiety caused would make an incredible difference to those we support Catherine Wright, Versus Arthritis Dr John Bowes, a Cluster researcher based at the University of Manchester, outlined the team’s future plans. “The idea of identifying uveitis early using a simple test would be ground-breaking – the reduction in taking unnecessary medications, needless time spent at screening appointments and the alleviation of anxiety caused would make an incredible difference to those we support.”