Arthritis Society Canada announced its Top 10 Research Advances of 2025 today, highlighting discoveries that are advancing how arthritis is diagnosed, treated and prevented. Among them, the work of the UCAN CAN-DU consortium was highlighted.

Earlier treatment, better outcomes for children with arthritis

For children with non-systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), starting biologic medication earlier can significantly improve treatment success, according to research led by Dr. Susanne Benseler at the University of Calgary, and Dr. Rae Yeung from The Hospital for Sick Children, as part of the UCAN CAN-DU and UCAN CURE consortia.

The study found that 83% of children who began biologics within 6 months of their initial symptoms achieved inactive disease, compared to 57% of those who waited 13 to 24 months. With each month of delay, the odds of still having active arthritis increased by a relative 9%.

These findings reveal a critical window of opportunity for early intervention and could help doctors make more informed decisions about when to initiate biologic therapy, improving the long-term outcomes for children with arthritis. This study marks a critical step towards a cure for childhood arthritis.

Read the full article here.

“Most people don’t know that kids get arthritis,” says Dr. Deborah Marshall. “And they don’t understand the serious and wide-ranging effects of arthritis on child patients, their families, and communities.”

Dr. Marshall, Svare Chair, Health Economics, Value and Impact at the University of Calgary, studies the social and economic burden of juvenile arthritis and gathers data and evidence to influence health decision-making.

Read the full article here.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients require regular rehabilitation exercises to improve and maintain joint range of motion (ROM). Access to therapy may be limited for some patients, community clinics may lack allied health team members, and poor adherence arises from brief in-person instruction with or without written details and reminders given subsequently. 

To address this problem, a multidisciplinary team at Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH) have developed an extensive library of exercise videos to be prescribed by Paediatric Rheumatology Care Providers (PRCPs) as indicated by their individual patients’ needs. Previous work has demonstrated:

1. satisfaction with the video content by PRCPs;
2. patient preference for videos over written handouts; and
3. improved exercise technique accuracy in follow-up encounters with prescription of these videos. 

To date, there has been a significant barrier to dissemination of the video library to PRCPs outside MCH in a secure manner to spread the proven benefits.

Now, a non-randomized, prospective quality improvement project is using UCAN CAN-DU’s eHealth platform, housed at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, to prescribe ROM exercise videos to patients with Rheumatological diagnoses. 

Preliminary results illustrate that patients who have accessed the prescribed exercise videos at home have had high satisfaction with the process of receiving, accessing, and viewing them. Prescribers have also found the process straight forward with high self-efficacy.

On September 19th, Dr Hani El-Gabalawy delivered the keynote address at the 10th Anniversary Cy Frank Legacy Lecture at the University of Calgary. He chose to present UCAN CAN DU as an exemplar project demonstrating impact and fostering international collaboration. UCAN CAN-DU advances Precision Health research and captures Socio-Economic impact of JIA on kids and families, leveraging cutting edge technologies in Genomics, Machine Learning and eHealth. UCAN CAN-DU was the Precision Health project showcased as an example of impact in the successful Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) grant entitled One Child Every Child.

The UCAN CAN-DU team thanks Dr El-Gabalawy for this kind acknowledgement of UCAN in the prestigious setting of the Cy Frank 10th Anniversary Legacy Lecture. We also thank our funders for their generous support.