H1N1 Influenza A Virus Brings Many Questions, Few Answers

“Over the five years we evaluated, only about one in five patients with rheumatic or psoriatic arthritis got their flu vaccines each year,” says Dr. Curtis. “This is clearly a quality-of-care issue when important, nationally recommended preventive services such as vaccinations are not being performed.”

The investigators did find that those who saw both a rheumatologist and a primary care physician were more likely to be properly vaccinated than if they were seeing either physician alone.

“Rheumatologists do a good job of taking care of people’s arthritis,” he says. “But they are not shouldering the burden of all of the important preventive tests and services that need to be done for people with rheumatoid and other inflammatory diseases.”