Publications by authors named "Dana Wiens"
Objective: There are complex and interrelated factors that lead to inequitable healthcare delivery in Canada. Many of the factors that underlie these inequities for Canada's geographically dispersed Indigenous peoples remain underexamined.
Methods: A cohort of 831 First Nations (FN) individuals from urban and remote communities were recruited into a longitudinal study of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) risk from 2005 to 2017.
Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease that can lead to synovial damage, persistent joint pain, and functional disability. Our objective was to evaluate baseline synovial transcriptome from early inflammatory arthritis patients (EIA) and identify pretreatment biomarkers that could potentially provide insights into long-term functional outcomes of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Methods: Synovial biopsies from clinically inflamed knee joints were procured from either 17 EIA patients before initiation of disease modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) therapy (DMARD-naïve EIA) using the minimally invasive closed needle biopsy technique or advanced RA patients undergoing arthroplasty.
Objective: The events that occur prior to the onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) continue to be delineated. We examined the relationship between self-reported joint symptoms, functional disability, and anticitrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) status in a cohort of first-degree relatives (FDR) of patients with RA who are at risk of future disease development.
Methods: We studied a cohort of 279 FDR of First Nations (FN) patients with RA who are at increased risk for future RA development, and analyzed data collected at their enrollment study visit.