title: Rheumatoid Arthritis Surveillance in Ontario: Monitoring the Burden, Quality of Care and Patient Outcomes through Linkage of Administrative Health Data.
abstract: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common chronic inflammatory joint disease. Using the Ontario administrative health data housed at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, researchers have quantified the population-level burden and epidemiology of RA, mapped its geographic distribution in relation to rheumatologist supply, studied trends in access to rheumatology care and treatment and evaluated patient outcomes. The findings highlight the excess morbidity and mortality associated with the growing burden of RA in the face of a strained rheumatology supply, and raise urgent questions about how best to meet the needs of Ontarians with RA.
authors.affiliation: Postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and McGill University. She is supported by fellowship awards from The Arthritis Society and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Widdifield
authors.affiliation: Rheumatologist, a medical scientist in the Divisions of Clinical Epidemiology and Rheumatology at the McGill University Health Centre and an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at McGill University. She holds a career award from the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec.
authors.forename: Sasha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bernatsky
authors.affiliation: Rheumatologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and a senior scientist at the University Health Network, the Toronto General Research Institute and the Institute for Work and Health. She holds a Canada Research Chair in Knowledge Transfer for Musculoskeletal Care and a Pfizer Research Chair in Rheumatology.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bombardier
authors.affiliation: Scientist and lead of the Chronic Disease and Pharmacotherapy Research Program at ICES. He is also an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paterson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D017281:Cost of Illness; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval; D008875:Middle Aged; D009864:Ontario / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult