Table 2.
The patient journey to axial spondyloarthritis diagnosis stratified by region
| Mean ± SD or n (%) | p value | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | North America | Latin America | Asia | South Africa | ||
| Diagnostic delay, n = 5327 | 7.7 ± 8.8 | 9.0 ± 11.0 | 5.9 ± 8.6 | 4.2 ± 5.4 | 10.8 ± 10.6 | < 0.001 |
| HCP seen before diagnosis, n = 5328 | ||||||
| GP | 2731 (82.5) | 650 (86.1) | 385 (70.5) | 258 (44.9) | 117 (83.0) | < 0.001 |
| Rheumatologist | 1959 (59.2) | 350 (46.4) | 213 (39.0) | 164 (28.5) | 45 (31.9) | |
| Orthopaedic specialist | 1143 (34.5) | 178 (23.6) | 332 (60.8) | 374 (65.0) | 48 (34.0) | |
| Physiotherapist | 1309 (39.5) | 350 (46.4) | 169 (31.0) | 104 (18.1) | 16 (11.3) | |
| Osteopath | 519 (15.7) | 74 (9.8) | 46 (8.4) | 11 (1.9) | 5 (3.5) | |
| Other | 441 (13.3) | 99 (13.1) | 66 (12.1) | 18 (3.1) | 18 (12.8) | |
| Chiropractor | 285 (8.6) | 274 (36.3) | 11 (2.0) | 53 (9.2) | 43 (30.5) | |
| HCP that made diagnosis, n = 5326 | ||||||
| Rheumatologist | 2499 (76.5) | 511 (66.4) | 407 (74.3) | 323 (53.9) | 102 (70.8) | < 0.001 |
| GP | 413 (12.6) | 151 (19.6) | 78 (14.2) | 48 (8.0) | 18 (12.5) | |
| Orthopaedic specialist | 187 (5.7) | 39 (5.1) | 42 (7.7) | 203 (33.9) | 11 (7.6) | |
| Other | 130 (4.0) | 49 (6.4) | 18 (3.3) | 14 (2.3) | 13 (9.0) | |
| Physiotherapist | 36 (1.1) | 20 (2.6) | 3 (0.5) | 11 (1.8) | 0 (0.0) | |
| First test for diagnosis, n = 4619 | ||||||
| X-ray | 2047 (69.5) | 470 (73.6) | 136 (33.3) | 267 (52.7) | 44 (36.7) | < 0.001 |
| HLA-B27 | 2000 (67.9) | 440 (68.9) | 273 (66.9) | 312 (61.5) | 95 (79.2) | |
| MRI scan | 1825 (62.0) | 430 (67.3) | 142 (34.8) | 295 (58.2) | 40 (33.3) | |
| CT scan | 603 (20.3) | 196 (30.7) | 105 (25.7) | 145 (28.6) | 21 (17.5) | |
| Ultrasound | 577 (19.6) | 173 (27.1) | 67 (16.4) | 114 (22.5) | 16 (13.3) | |
| Radionuclide scintigraphy | 430 (14.6) | 100 (15.6) | 78 (19.1) | 61 (12.0) | 10 (8.3) | |
| Other | 125 (4.2) | 61 (9.5) | 20 (4.9) | 11 (2.2) | 12 (10.0) | |
SD standard deviation, HCP healthcare professional, GP general practitioner, HLA-B27 human leukocyte antigen (HLA) B27, MRI magnetic resonance imaging, CT computed tomography