Clinical Visit Frequencies in Rheumatology: A Systematic Literature Review.
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken)
; 75(10): 2054-2062, 2023 10.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36807719
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Clinical visits are a fundamental aspect of rheumatic disease care, but recommendations for appropriate visit frequencies are largely absent from guidelines, scarcely studied, and inconsistently reported. The aim of this systematic review was to summarize the evidence pertaining to visit frequencies for major rheumatic diseases.METHODS:
This systematic review was conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Title/abstract screening, full-text screening, and extraction were carried out by 2 independent authors. Annual visit frequencies were either extracted or calculated and stratified by disease type and country of study. Weighted mean annual visit frequencies were calculated.RESULTS:
A total of 273 relevant manuscript records were screened, and 28 were included after applying selection criteria. The included studies were equally divided between US and non-US and were published between 1985 and 2021. Most (n = 16) focused on rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE; n = 5), and fibromyalgia (FM; n = 4). For RA, the average annual visit frequencies were 5.25 for US rheumatologists, 4.80 for US non-rheumatologists, 3.29 for non-US rheumatologists, and 2.74 for non-US non-rheumatologists. For SLE, annual visit frequencies for non-rheumatologists were much higher than for US rheumatologists (12.3 versus 3.24). For FM, annual visit frequencies were 1.80 for US rheumatologists and 0.40 for non-US rheumatologists. There was a decreasing trend of visit frequency to rheumatologists from 1982 to 2019.CONCLUSION:
Evidence for rheumatology clinical visits was limited and heterogeneous on a global scale. However, general trends suggest more frequent visits in the US and less frequent visits in recent years.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Artritis Reumatoide
/
Reumatología
/
Enfermedades Reumáticas
/
Lupus Eritematoso Sistémico
Tipo de estudio:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Guideline
/
Systematic_reviews
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken)
Asunto de la revista:
REUMATOLOGIA
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Canadá