Skip Navigation


Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on January 16, 2009
Rheumatology 2009 48(3):272-276; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/ken472
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
48/3/272    most recent
ken472v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Singh, J. A.
Right arrow Articles by Strand, V.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Singh, J. A.
Right arrow Articles by Strand, V.
Related Collections
Right arrow Spondylarthropathies
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology 2009.

Health care utilization in patients with spondyloarthropathies

J. A. Singh1,2,3,4 and V. Strand5

1Rheumatology Section, Medicine Service, VA Medical Center, Minneapolis, 2Department of Health Sciences Research, 3Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Mayo Clinic School of Medicine, Rochester, 4Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis and 5Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA.

Correspondence to: J. A. Singh, Minneapolis VA Medical Center, Rheumatology (111R), One Veteran's Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55417, USA. E-mail: Jasvinder.md{at}gmail.com


  Abstract

Objective. To study health care utilization in veterans with SpAs.

Methods. In a postal survey of 70 508 veterans in Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN)-13 from 1 October 1996 to 31 March 1998, demographics, smoking status and performance of activities of daily living (ADLs) were queried. Databases provided ICD-9 codes for AS, PsA and ReA; comorbidities; demographics; and health care utilization post-survey in respondents. Multivariable linear/logistic regression compared out- and inpatient health care utilization in SpA vs non-SpA, and its predictors in SpA.

Results. A total of 1001 veteran respondents had diagnoses of SpA: AS, n = 154; PsA, n = 814; ReA, n = 33. Veterans with AS, PsA and ReA, respectively, had significantly higher adjusted annual medical specialty (2.8, 3.6 and 3 vs 1.5; P < 0.0001), surgical care (3.3, 2.7 and 3.2 vs 1.9; P < 0.0001) and primary care visits (3.4, 3.0 and 2.3 vs 2.7, P = 0.024). Multivariable-adjusted analyses showed that more ADL limitations and higher comorbidity were associated with higher in- and outpatient health care utilization in PsA and none of the predictors were significantly associated with utilization in AS.

Conclusions. After adjustment for differences in demographics and comorbidities, more outpatient health resource utilization was observed in SpA patients. Further studies should focus on what leads to this increase in utilization, and whether any modifiable factors can be introduced to reduce health care utilization in PsA patients.

KEY WORDS: Psoriatic arthritis, Ankylosing spondylitis, Reactive arthritis, Health care utilization, Resource utilization, Health care use, Predictors

Submitted 28 August 2008; revised version accepted 21 November 2008.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.