Lupus & antiphospholipid syndrome
Clinical Presentation, Care Pathways, and Delays in Access to Specialized Care in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Study From Lupus Midwest Network (LUMEN)
Authors' conclusion
One-fourth of patients experienced delays accessing SLE-specialized care, which was associated with disease-related damage. Fewer manifestations, hematologic manifestations, or antiphospholipid antibodies were associated with delays.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with incident systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) from the Lupus Midwest Network registry
- Participants
- 373 patients
- Exposure
- Patients with vs without delays in access to SLE-specialized care
- Delaysn = 93
- Outcome
- Time from first medical encounter for SLE clinical manifestation to access to SLE-specialized care, physician diagnosis, and treatment; delays in access to specialized care
Methodological detailsregistry-based, logistic regression
- Registry-based
- Logistic regression
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Median time to access SLE-specialized care, months
1.1
95% CI 0.9–1.5
Median time to diagnosis, months
30.6
95% CI 18.9–48.1
Median time to treatment initiation, months
4.7
95% CI 3.9–8.4
Patients with delays accessing specialized care (93 out of 373)
≈25%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Fewer than two SLE domains at first SLE-related encounter
P < 0.001
Damage at first access to SLE-specialized care (SDI ≥1)
P < 0.001
Manifestation domains associated with delays
| OR (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Hematologic domain | 1.71 (1.03–2.84) | |
| Antiphospholipid antibodies domain | 6.05 (2.46–14.88) | |
| 0.050.21520Odds ratio (log scale) |
- Mucocutaneous or musculoskeletal manifestations less likely to experience delays
Original publication
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →