RESEARCH - Women with early RA are referred later than men

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Ann Rheum Dis. 2005 Aug;64(8):1227-8.

Women with early rheumatoid arthritis are referred later than men.

Palm O, Purinszky E.

Department of Rheumatology, Ostfold Hospital Sarpsborg, Roald Amundsens gate

17, N-1723 Sarpsborg, Norway. Oyvind.Palm@...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate lag times between disease onset and rheumatological

encounter in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: All

referred patients with early RA over a 1 year period were prospectively

registered. The lag time between disease onset and the first encounter with

a physician was recorded as the " patient's delay " . The time between this

encounter and the referral to our department was recorded as the

" physician's delay " . The lag time between referral and rheumatological

encounter was recorded as the " hospital's delay " . RESULTS: The median total

lag time between onset of RA and rheumatological encounter was 16 weeks,

with no difference between men and women. Women were referred significantly

later than men ( " physician's delay " median 10 weeks v 3 weeks). The

" patient's delay " and the " hospital's delay " were a median of 4 weeks each.

CONCLUSION: Women with early RA were referred later than men and the total

lag time between disease onset and rheumatological encounter was quite long

for both sexes.

PMID: 16014684

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=1\

6014684 & dopt=Abstract

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