title: Diagnostic delay in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis: results from the Danish nationwide DANBIO registry.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Early diagnosis of inflammatory rheumatic diseases is important in order to improve long-term outcome. We studied whether delay in diagnosis (time between onset of symptoms and establishment of diagnosis) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PSA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) changed from year 2000 to 2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  Month and year of initial symptoms and diagnosis, gender, hospital, year of birth and date of first data entry were obtained for 13,721 patients with RA, PSA or AS who had been registered in the DANBIO registry. Time between symptom onset and diagnosis was modelled using generalised linear regression to predict the average duration for each calendar year of initial symptoms with adjustments for gender, year of birth and date of DANBIO entry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with valid data (RA: 10,416 (73%); PSA: 1970 (68%); AS: 1335 (65%)) did not differ significantly from the whole DANBIO population, except more missing data in early years. The regression model showed that the mean duration from initial symptoms to diagnosis for RA, PSA and AS declined steadily from 30, 53 and 66 months (year 2000), respectively, to 3-4 months (year 2011). Sensitivity analyses including patients who were included after 2005, patients who had received biological treatment or had symptom onset less than 2 and 5 years prior to first entry into DANBIO showed similar results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Since the year 2000, a significant reduction in diagnostic delay was observed in this large cohort of patients with RA, PSA or AS, probably reflecting a stronger awareness of the importance of early diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Applied Health Services Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sørensen
authors.affiliation: DANBIO registry, Copenhagen Center for Arthritis Research, Center for Rheumatology and Spine Diseases, Glostrup Hospital, Glostrup, Denmark Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Merete Lund
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Hetland
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015535:Arthritis, Psoriatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D057210:Delayed Diagnosis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012042:Registries; D013167:Spondylitis, Ankylosing / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
keywords: Ankylosing Spondylitis; Epidemiology; Psoriatic Arthritis; Rheumatoid Arthritis