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. 2016 Mar 18;35:1769–1776. doi: 10.1007/s10067-016-3231-z

Table 2.

Percentage of patients who received prescription drug therapy and imaging procedures as a function of prescribing physician specialty

PCP (%) Orthopedist (%) Pain management (%) Chiropractor/PT (%) Acute care (%) Other/missing (%)
Referred cohorta
Prescription drugs
 NSAIDs 46.2 19.0 3.2 4.4 7.8 19.4
 DMARDs 47.3 8.3 4.4 5.4 8.3 26.3
 Corticosteroids 58.1 13.1 3.7 5.6 5.6 13.8
 Opiates 49.4 22.6 6.4 3.8 6.4 11.4
 Anti-TNFc 40.0 12.0 1.3 5.3 8.0 33.3
Imaging
 X-ray 22.5 12.0 2.6 8.3 22.9 31.7
 CT scan 28.4 5.2 3.1 3.9 45.9 13.5
 MRI 25.7 13.1 7.4 7.0 28.1 18.6
Non-referred cohortb
Prescription drugs
 NSAIDs 55.4 16.6 4.5 5.7 3.1 14.7
 DMARDs 65.1 8.1 2.7 3.4 5.4 15.3
 Corticosteroids 62.3 12.1 3.6 2.5 5.8 13.7
 Opiates 51.9 21.7 6.4 3.6 4.0 12.4
 Anti-TNFc 59.5 13.5 0.0 2.7 2.7 21.6
Imaging
 X-ray 39.5 17.5 4.6 11.4 14.2 12.8
 CT scan 31.0 6.2 6.8 2.5 37.5 16.0
 MRI 32.6 10.0 6.7 6.8 25.9 18.0

Analysis includes all patients who received a given therapy or procedure (total of 100 % for each category)

CT computed tomography, DMARDs disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, MRI magnetic resonance imaging, NSAIDs non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, PT physical therapist, TNF tumor necrosis factor

aFor the referred cohort, data represent the year prior to rheumatologist referral

bFor the non-referred cohort, data represent the year prior to AS diagnosis

cAnti-TNF use was reported in 5.9 % of the total population