Health services use of the outpatients in the database
| 1stvisit to rheumatologist within 1st year of disease (% of all patients seen in 1998) | Mean (median) disease duration at 1st visit to a rheumatologist in months (all patients) | Percentage of newly referred patients (<3 months before registration) | |
| Rheumatoid arthritis, RF+ | 63.3 | 20.2 (9) | 17.9 |
| Rheumatoid arthritis, RF− | 65.0 | 20.6 (8) | 24.6 |
| Ankylosing spondylitis | 38.5 | 61.8 (34) | 32.7 |
| Other seroneg. spondyloarthropathy | 49.9 | 41.2 (13) | 35.3 |
| Psoriatic arthritis | 55.2 | 28.7 (12) | 29.5 |
| Reactive arthritis | 77.8 | 8.6 (3) | 65.4 |
| Other arthritides | 66.2 | 19.4 (6) | 52.7 |
| SLE | 66.3 | 18.0 (6) | 18.3 |
| Scleroderma | 56.3 | 30.4 (12) | 28.8 |
| Sjögren's syndrome | 56.4 | 33.0 (12) | 18.2 |
| Other connective tissue diseases | 60.9 | 18.8 (8) | 31.4 |
| Polymyalgia rheumatica | 84.4 | 5.9 (3) | 35.0 |
| Other vasculitides | 70.7 | 14.4 (4) | 29.8 |
| Total | 62.6 | 23.0 (9) | 27.7 |