The Rheumatologist
COVID-19 News
  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed
  • Home
  • Conditions
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • SLE (Lupus)
    • Crystal Arthritis
      • Gout Resource Center
    • Spondyloarthritis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Soft Tissue Pain
    • Scleroderma
    • Vasculitis
    • Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes
    • Guidelines
  • Resource Centers
    • Ankylosing Spondylitis Resource Center
    • Gout Resource Center
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
  • Drug Updates
    • Biologics & Biosimilars
    • DMARDs & Immunosuppressives
    • Topical Drugs
    • Analgesics
    • Safety
    • Pharma Co. News
  • Professional Topics
    • Ethics
    • Legal
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Career Development
      • Certification
      • Education & Training
    • Awards
    • Profiles
    • President’s Perspective
    • Rheuminations
  • Practice Management
    • Billing/Coding
    • Quality Assurance/Improvement
    • Workforce
    • Facility
    • Patient Perspective
    • Electronic Health Records
    • Apps
    • Information Technology
    • From the College
    • Multimedia
      • Audio
      • Video
  • Resources
    • Issue Archives
    • ACR Convergence
      • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
      • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
      • Gout Resource Center
      • Abstracts
      • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence Home
    • American College of Rheumatology
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Research Reviews
    • ACR Journals
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
    • Rheumatology Image Library
    • Treatment Guidelines
    • Rheumatology Research Foundation
    • Events
  • About Us
    • Mission/Vision
    • Meet the Authors
    • Meet the Editors
    • Contribute to The Rheumatologist
    • Subscription
    • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Search
You are here: Home / Articles / From the Front Lines: Managing RA Comorbidities in Primary Care

From the Front Lines: Managing RA Comorbidities in Primary Care

September 27, 2017 • By Arthritis Care & Research

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version / Save PDF

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) frequently develop comorbid conditions, which can be detected and managed through enhanced screenings and preventive medical care, such as immunizations. In Canada to date, quality measures for the screening and management of comorbidities in these patients have focused on care provided by rheumatologists. But what about primary care physicians, who are essential to disease prevention and to supporting rheumatologists?

You Might Also Like
  • What Rheumatologists Wish Their Colleagues Knew: Managing Skin Disease & Comorbidities
  • Chronic Care Management Payments Can Increase Primary Care Revenues
  • How Medicare’s Chronic Care Management Payments Could Affect Primary Care

New research by Jessica Widdifield, PhD, and colleagues from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada, examined the management of comorbidity in RA patients within the primary care setting. Researchers developed and assessed quality measures related to screenings, process and outcome measures for patients both with and without RA. The results of this work were published in October 2017 Arthritis Care & Research.

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Using data from the primary care Electronic Medical Record Administrative Data Linked Database (EMRALD) in Ontario, researchers harmonized the Canadian general population and RA clinical recommendations. From the database, 154,388 eligible patients from 209 primary care physicians were identified. For each RA patient, 10 non-RA patients were matched by age and sex, resulting in patients with a similar prevalence for comorbid conditions, such as hypertension, ischemic heart diseases and diabetes mellitus. In total, 1,405 RA patients were compared with 14,050 matched non-RA patients. Stratified analyses were performed, comparing patients with RA to those without RA, to assess the performance of these quality measures.

The Results
“Ontario primary care physicians tend to provide similar quality of care for patients with and without RA, but the performance of many process measures was suboptimal in both RA and non-RA patients,” write the authors in their discussion. “Many RA patients do not receive optimal preventive medical services, such as immunizations and screening for comorbid conditions.”

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

For general preventive care, RA patients were more likely to have been to their primary care physician within the past year, as well as to have undergone testing for bone mineral density, than non-RA patients. RA patients were also slightly more likely to receive vaccinations for influenza (44.9% vs. 40.0%) and pneumococcal pneumonia (40.4% vs. 34.1%) than non-RA patients. However, herpes zoster vaccinations were less frequent among RA patients than non-RA patients. RA patients also received less screenings for cervical cancer (58.6% vs. 64.0%) than non-RA patients. But no significant differences were observed between RA and non-RA patients in screenings for breast (70.7% vs. 73.8%) or colorectal (31.7% vs. 34.5%) cancers.

Pages: 1 2 | Single Page

Filed Under: Conditions, Rheumatoid Arthritis Tagged With: cardiovascular, comorbidities, preventive, primary care, Primary Care Physician, Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

You Might Also Like:
  • What Rheumatologists Wish Their Colleagues Knew: Managing Skin Disease & Comorbidities
  • Chronic Care Management Payments Can Increase Primary Care Revenues
  • How Medicare’s Chronic Care Management Payments Could Affect Primary Care
  • New Recommendations Support Effective Use of Telemedicine in Primary Care

American College of Rheumatology

Visit the official website for the American College of Rheumatology.

Visit the ACR »

ACR Convergence

Don’t miss rheumatology’s premier scientific meeting for anyone involved in research or the delivery of rheumatologic care or services.

Visit the ACR Convergence site »

Rheumatology Research Foundation

The Foundation is the largest private funding source for rheumatology research and training in the U.S.

Learn more »

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.

About Us / Contact Us / Advertise / Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed

Copyright © 2006–2021 American College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1931-3268 (print)
ISSN 1931-3209 (online)

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
This site uses cookies: Find out more.