Spondyloarthritis & psoriatic arthritis
Time and patient journey to axial spondyloarthritis diagnosis: a retrospective study in French primary care
Authors' conclusion
Patients in France wait over 6 years for an axSpA diagnosis.
Study context
- Population
- Adult axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) patients in French primary care, January 2000-August 20234,402 with prior back pain diagnosis
- Participants
- 7,313 patients
- Outcome
- Time from earliest GP-recorded back pain diagnosis to axSpA diagnosis, and number and type of back pain episodes in this period
Methodological detailsprimary care database (The Health Improvement Network (THIN))
- Primary care database (THIN)
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Time from earliest back pain to axSpA diagnosis
Mean time from earliest back pain to axSpA diagnosis
6.3 years
Mean number of back pain episodes before axSpA diagnosis
6.1
Patients with ≥10 back pain episodes
17.3%
Lower back pain (most common), % of diagnoses
47.4%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Patients with >1 axSpA symptom or comorbidity, earliest back pain vs axSpA diagnosis
- >1 axSpA symptom at earliest back pain diagnosis
- 1.9%
- >1 axSpA symptom at axSpA diagnosis
- 8.9%
- >1 comorbidity at earliest back pain diagnosis
- 23.7%
- >1 comorbidity at axSpA diagnosis
- 50.7%
Healthcare resource utilization (HCRU): mean primary care consultations per patient per year between earliest back pain and axSpA diagnosis
- Mean consultations per patient per year
- 7.0
- HCRU was high
Original publication
Time and patient journey to axial spondyloarthritis diagnosis: a retrospective study in French primary care. Rheumatology (Oxford). Published 15 March 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →