Frequency of reasons for seeking medical help in all arthralgia patients and subsequently for short versus prolonged patient delay and patients with and without arthritis
| Patient delay | Arthritis at examination | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All arthralgia patients | <4 weeks | >4 weeks | Present | Absent | |
| N=612 | N=242 | N=245 | N=272 | N=340 | |
| Reasons for seeking medical help; Because… | |||||
| The symptoms suddenly occurred | 27.9 | 47.5 | 18.0* | 34.2 | 22.9* |
| The symptoms were getting worse | 65.7 | 60.3 | 69.4* | 64.7 | 66.5 |
| More symptoms occurred | 37.4 | 29.3 | 39.2* | 35.7 | 38.8 |
| I worried about what could be wrong | 42.0 | 43.8 | 43.3 | 43.8 | 40.6 |
| I worried I might have had a joint inflammation | 36.1 | 36.4 | 33.9 | 34.9 | 37.1 |
| I worried I might have had a joint inflammation and I heard/read that you have to act quickly | 14.4 | 14.0 | 13.9 | 14.0 | 14.7 |
| Due to my symptoms, I was unable to do things | 35.1 | 40.9 | 28.6* | 37.5 | 33.2 |
| I wanted to ask for a painkiller | 15.8 | 16.9 | 12.2 | 16.2 | 15.6 |
| My family/friends thought I should go | 22.2 | 22.3 | 21.6 | 26.1 | 19.1* |
| Reasons for postponing seeking medical help; Because… | |||||
| I was unable to go sooner | 2.0 | 2.9 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 2.1 |
| I wanted to wait and see | 43.0 | 39.7 | 47.3 | 41.2 | 44.4 |
| The doctor could not see me sooner | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 1.2 |
| It seemed like it was getting better | 7.5 | 4.1 | 11.4* | 7.0 | 7.9 |
| I thought it would go away by itself | 39.4 | 32.6 | 48.2* | 37.9 | 40.6 |
| I thought nothing could be done about it | 6.4 | 1.7 | 7.3* | 5.5 | 7.1 |
| I thought I wouldn't be taken seriously | 3.4 | 0.8 | 3.7* | 3.3 | 3.5 |
| It didn't seem serious | 12.4 | 7.0 | 16.3* | 11.4 | 13.2 |
| I was afraid it might have been serious | 2.6 | 1.7 | 3.7 | 3.3 | 2.1 |
| I asked somebody else to look at it first | 3.9 | 1.7 | 4.1 | 3.3 | 4.4 |
Data are expressed as %.
*p Value < 0.05.