Steritas LLC., a company dedicated to enhancing patient care for steroid-treated patients announced that Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, and the Liverpool Clinical Trials Centre will apply its Steritas Pediatric Glucocorticoid Toxicity Index (pGTI) in a clinical trial to compare efficacy , safety and cost-effectiveness of intravenous versus oral glucocorticoids (steroids) for children and young people with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). The randomized controlled trial, called STAR-JIA trial ( S teroid T re A tment T R ial in JIA ), aims to understand not only which route of steroid is the most effective for treating inflammation in JIA, but will also implement the pGTI to compare the toxicity of intravenous versus oral steroids, marking a significant advancement in pediatric rheumatology.
The study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is the most common rheumatic disease in children. Glucocorticoids (oral and intravenous) and methotrexate are the standard of care, even with limited evidence about optimal dosing, comparative effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of intravenous versus oral glucocorticoids.
The Steritas pGTI provides a systematic approach to assessing steroid-toxicity in children between the ages of 2 and 18 years. It is used to measure and monitor steroid-toxicity in young patients.The instrument provides weighted scores of steroid-toxicity that equip researchers, clinicians an.
