Women with early rheumatoid arthritis are referred later than men.
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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
Palm
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Department of Rheumatology, Østfold Hospital Sarpsborg, Roald Amundsens gate 17, N-1723 Sarpsborg, Norway. Oyvind.Palm@so-hf.no
Purinszky
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E
D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000592:standards*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors