Distler, O;
Allanore, Y;
Denton, CP;
Matucci-Cerinic, M;
Pope, JE;
Hinzmann, B;
Davies, S;
... Khanna, D; + view all
(2018)
Factors influencing early referral, early diagnosis and management in patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis.
Rheumatology
, 57
(5)
pp. 813-817.
10.1093/rheumatology/kex504.
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To gain insight into clinical practice regarding referral, early diagnosis and other aspects of the management of patients with dcSSc in Europe and the USA. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 84 rheumatologists (or internal medicine physicians) and 40 dermatologists in different countries (the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the USA). Physicians were asked to identify key steps in the patient pathway relating to patient presentation, diagnosis and referral, in addition to other treatment and follow-up processes. RESULTS: The interviewed physicians reported that late presentation with dcSSc was common, with some patients presenting to primary care physicians after symptoms had persisted for up to 1 year. Awareness of dcSSc is reported to vary widely among primary care physicians. Final diagnosis, generally following guideline-based recommendations, was by rheumatologists in most cases (or internal medicine physicians in France) and they remained responsible for global patient management, with lesser involvement in diagnosis and management by dermatologists. Specialist centres were not well defined and did not exist in all countries. CONCLUSION: Patients and primary healthcare providers can be unaware of the symptoms of dcSSc, therefore presentation and referral to specialist care are often late. Thus, improved awareness among patients and primary care physicians is necessary to facilitate earlier referral and diagnosis. Once referred, more consistent use of the modified Rodnan skin score at diagnosis and follow-up may help to monitor disease progression. Furthermore, establishing specialist centres may help to promote such changes and improve patient care.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Factors influencing early referral, early diagnosis and management in patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1093/rheumatology/kex504 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/kex504 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com |
| Keywords: | diagnosis, scleroderma, skin disease, systemic sclerosis, treatment |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Medicine UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Medicine > Inflammation |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10043219 |
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