Visits to physicians | Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) | Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) | Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) | |||
Male, N (%) | Female, N (%) | Male, N (%) | Female, N (%) | Male, N (%) | Female, N (%) | |
Before diagnosis | ||||||
Visits to family physicians for MSK reasons | ||||||
Year 3 | 5016 (39.5) | 12 467 (43.6) | 1657 (41.5) | 1968 (47.3) | 1053 (35.5) | 1500 (43.1) |
Year 2 | 5611 (44.2) | 13 719 (48.0) | 1736 (43.5) | 2121 (51.0) | 1199 (40.5) | 1599 (45.9) |
Year 1 | 10 144 (79.9) | 22 867 (80.0) | 2980 (74.7) | 2982 (71.7) | 1966 (66.4) | 2360 (67.8) |
Visits to rheumatologists for non-specific MSK causes | ||||||
Year 3 | 640 (5.0) | 2195 (7.7) | 198 (5.0) | 470 (11.3) | 129 (4.4) | 284 (8.2) |
Year 2 | 904 (7.1) | 2682 (9.4) | 215 (5.4) | 535 (12.9) | 160 (5.4) | 336 (9.6) |
Year 1 | 3627 (28.6) | 8493 (29.7) | 842 (21.1) | 1300 (31.3) | 584 (19.7) | 873 (25.1) |
Visits to other MSK specialists | ||||||
Year 3 | 1370 (10.8) | 3092 (10.8) | 293 (7.3) | 418 (10.0) | 283 (9.6) | 389 (11.2) |
Year 2 | 1514 (11.9) | 3450 (12.1) | 310 (7.8) | 471 (11.3) | 300 (10.1) | 431 (12.4) |
Year 1 | 2162 (17.0) | 4654 (16.3) | 498 (12.5) | 595 (14.3) | 435 (14.7) | 539 (15.5) |
Visits to the emergency department for MSK reasons | ||||||
Year 3 | 708 (5.6) | 1629 (5.7) | 198 (5.0) | 264 (6.3) | 131 (4.4) | 170 (4.9) |
Year 2 | 921 (7.3) | 1966 (6.9) | 206 (5.2) | 281 (6.8) | 135 (4.6) | 219 (6.3) |
Year 1 | 2327 (18.3) | 4433 (15.5) | 484 (12.1) | 480 (11.5) | 312 (10.5) | 362 (10.4) |
Visits to dermatologists for psoriasis | ||||||
Year 3 | Not assessed | Not assessed | 506 (17.1) | 540 (15.5) | ||
Year 2 | 568 (19.2) | 544 (15.6) | ||||
Year 1 | 845 (28.5) | 913 (26.2) | ||||
After diagnosis | ||||||
Visits to rheumatologists | ||||||
Year 1 | 9781 (78.3) | 22 982 (81.1) | 3122 (78.5) | 3114 (75.1) | 2544 (86.0) | 3001 (86.3) |
Year 2 | 8203 (67.0) | 19 902 (71.0) | 2522 (63.9) | 2762 (66.7) | 1984 (67.5) | 2447 (70.7) |
Year 3 | 7373 (61.6) | 18 284 (66.2) | 2154 (55.0) | 2434 (59.1) | 1868 (64.0) | 2299 (66.8) |
Visits to dermatologists for psoriasis | ||||||
Year 1 | N/A | N/A | 884 (29.9) | 959 (27.6) | ||
Year 2 | 665 (22.6) | 739 (21.3) | ||||
Year 3 | 651 (22.3) | 689 (20.0) |
Denominators for RA cohort:
Year 1 after index date: male patients—12 488, female patients—28 339.
Year 2 after index date: male patients—12 250, female patients—28 014.
Year 3 after index date: male patients—11 971, female patients—27 628.
Denominators for AS cohort:
Year 1 after index date: male patients—3975, female patients—4149.
Year 2 after index date: male patients—3948, female patients—4141.
Year 3 after index date: male patients—3913, female patients—4118.
Denominators for PsA cohort:
Year 1 after index date: male patients—2957, female patients—3478.
Year 2 after index date: male patients—2940, female patients—3462.
Year 3 after index date: male patients—2919, female patients—3440.
Bolded results are statistically significant (standardised difference >0.1).
MSK, musculoskeletal.