Joining NDB Research for Rheumatoid Arthritis, Osteoarthritis and other Rheumatic Diseases

What are your important concerns about living with a rheumatic disease like arthritis? Is your treatment effective? We believe that rheumatic disease research needs the personal perspective of people who have rheumatic diseases.

If you have rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, or any other rheumatic disease, you can help! By telling us about your treatments, symptoms and how you manage with your illness, you can make an important difference in advancing care. From your own home, using a computer or postage-paid questionnaire, without changing your treatment or making a medical visit, you can help advance research.

The National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases (NDB) is conducting research into treatments and results of treatments experienced by people with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and all other rheumatic diseases. We need your in researching these important issues.

There is no charge or obligation ever for joining and participating in this study. This study is run by doctors working directly on rheumatic disease research and care. You will be able to read the full research results, and you’ll also receive a rheumatic disease newsletter twice a year.

Who are we?

The National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases is a world-renowned, non-profit, independent research group. Our mission is to improve rheumatic disorder outcomes and care by providing research information to doctors and to people with arthritis, fibromyalgia, lupus, or other related problems. The NDB has published numerous articles in reputable medical journals.

Every six months more than 10,000 people contribute to this important research by volunteering approximately an hour of their time to answer questions about their condition and how it affects their lives. This is done online using our online Webquest system, or by completing paper questionnaires that we send in the mail.

By participating in the NDB you'll be making a very important contribution to the treatment of rheumatic diseases. Please note that enrolling may take up to 30 minutes.

How to get started:

  1. Visit our enrollment page. You'll be asked to provide consent to participate in the research.
  2. The consent form will explain how we respect your privacy, and how the information you provide will be used.
  3. After consenting, you'll begin the enrollment forms. We'll ask for your contact information, your doctor's contact information, and other ways we can reach you if necessary. We may need to contact your doctor to confirm your diagnosis.
  4. Then you'll move on to four pages of questions about your condition, which medications you are taking and have taken in the past, and your general state of health.
  5. That's it. You're almost done. Look in your email for confirmation of your enrollment.
  6. Once you have completed the enrollment form, you are now ready to join in the on-going research. We will contact you every 6 months in January and July with an email link to the online Webquest. Depending on when you signed up, it may be a few months before you receive your first email with the Webquest link.
  7. If you use a service like Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink or other web-based email services, please add webquest@arthritis-research.org to your e-mail address book. Doing so will let your service know that we are not sending you spam. Thanks!

Click here to Enroll Now!

See our Frequently Asked Questions for more information.