Published 5 May 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1831
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1831

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Rheumatoid arthritis patients should be referred more swiftly, consensus statement urges

Roger Dobson

1 Abergavenny

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis should be referred to a specialist rheumatology clinic as soon as the condition is first suspected, says a new UK consensus statement on the treatment of early disease.

Patients should be started on effective treatment as soon as possible, and dedicated early assessment services should be developed, it says (Rheumatology doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kep073).

The authors wrote: "The consensus group stressed that all healthcare professionals should refer patients to a specialist rheumatology clinic when they first suspect rheumatoid arthritis or undifferentiated inflammatory polyarthritis.

"Currently, rheumatologists in the UK are referred patients from primary care after an interval of 6-10 months after symptom onset."

The authors say it is now accepted that an early start to treatment offers the opportunity to improve clinical and other outcomes but add that the time to first treatment with a disease modifying antirheumatic drug is still not optimal in the United . . . [Full text of this article]


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