No Cover Image

Journal article 103 views

Outpatient hospital attendances in people with rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A cohort study in three nations of the UK

Ruth E Costello, Michael Parker, Jonathan Kennedy, Sinead Brophy Orcid Logo, Amir Mehrkar, Sebastian Bacon, Ben Goldacre, Brian MacKenna, Dave Evans, Laurie A Tomlinson, Rosemary J Hollick, Jenny H Humphreys, Alex J Walker, Brian MacKenna, Peter Inglesby, Ben Goldacre, Helen J Curtis, Caroline E Morton, Jessica Morley, Amir Mehrkar, Sebastian C J Bacon, George Hickman, Richard Croker, David Evans, Tom Ward, Nicholas J DeVito, Louis Fisher, Amelia C A Green, Jon Massey, Rebecca M Smith, William J Hulme, Simon Davy, Colm D Andrews, Lisa E M Hopcroft, Henry Drysdale, Iain Dillingham, Robin Y Park, Rose Higgins, Christine Cunningham, Milan Wiedemann, Linda Nab, Steven Maude, Orla Macdonald, Ben F C Butler-Cole, Thomas O’Dwyer, Catherine L Stables, Christopher Wood, Andrew D Brown, Victoria Speed, Lucy Bridges, Andrea L Schaffer, Caroline E Walters, Christopher T Rentsch, Krishnan Bhaskaran, Anna Schultze, Elizabeth J Williamson, Helen I McDonald, Laurie A Tomlinson, Rohini Mathur, Rosalind M Eggo, Kevin Wing, Angel Y S Wong, John Tazare, Richard Grieve, Daniel J Grint, Sinead Langan, Kathryn E Mansfield, Ian J Douglas, Stephen J W Evans, Liam Smeeth, Jemma L Walker, Viyaasan Mahalingasivam, Harriet Forbes, Thomas E Cowling, Emily L Herrett, Ruth E Costello, Bang Zheng, Edward P K Parker, Christopher Bates, Jonathan Cockburn, John Parry, Frank Hester, Sam Harper, Shaun O’Hanlon, Alex Eavis, Richard Jarvis, Dima Avramov, Paul Griffiths, Aaron Fowles, Nasreen Parkes, Brian Nicholson, Rafael Perera, David Harrison, Kamlesh Khunti, Jonathan A C Sterne, Jennifer Quint, Rosemary J Hollick, Corri Black, Ernest Choy, Gary Macfarlane, Lorna Philip, Michelle Stevenson, Denise McFarlane, Laura Moir, Ian Allotay, Philip Bell, Amanda Cheesley, Charlotte Marlow, Farzana Kausir, Emily Lam, Inga Wood, Nishi Chaturvedi, Chloe Park, Alisia Carnemolla, Dylan Williams, Anika Knueppel, Andy Boyd, Emma L Turner, Katharine M Evans, Richard Thomas, Samantha Berman, Stela McLachlan, Matthew Crane, Rebecca Whitehorn, Jacqui Oakley, Diane Foster, Hannah Woodward, Kirsteen C Campbell, Nicholas Timpson, Alex Kwong, Ana Goncalves Soares, Gareth Griffith, Renin Toms, Louise Jones, Herbert Annie, Ruth Mitchell, Tom Palmer, Jonathan Sterne, Venexia Walker, Lizzie Huntley, Laura Fox, Rachel Denholm, Rochelle Knight, Kate Northstone, Arun Kanagaratnam, Elsie Horne, Harriet Forbes, Teri North, Kurt Taylor, Marwa A L Arab, Scott Walker, Jose I C Coronado, Arun S Karthikeyan, George Ploubidis, Bettina Moltrecht, Charlotte Booth, Sam Parsons, Bozena Wielgoszewska, Charis Bridger-Staatz, Claire Steves, Ellen Thompson, Paz Garcia, Nathan Cheetham, Ruth Bowyer, Maxim Freydin, Amy Roberts, Ben Goldacre, Alex Walker, Jess Morley, William Hulme, Linda Nab, Louis Fisher, Brian MacKenna, Colm Andrews, Helen Curtis, Lisa Hopcroft, Amelia Green, Praveetha Patalay, Jane Maddock, Kishan Patel, Jean Stafford, Wels Jacques, Kate Tilling, John Macleod, Eoin McElroy, Anoop Shah, Richard Silverwood, Spiros Denaxas, Robin Flaig, Daniel McCartney, Archie Campbell, Laurie Tomlinson, John Tazare, Bang Zheng, Liam Smeeth, Emily Herrett, Thomas Cowling, Kate Mansfield, Ruth E Costello, Kevin Wang, Kathryn Mansfield, Viyaasan Mahalingasivam, Ian Douglas, Sinead Langan, Sinead Brophy, Michael Parker, Jonathan Kennedy, Rosie McEachan, John Wright, Kathryn Willan, Ellena Badrick, Gillian Santorelli, Tiffany Yang, Bo Hou, Andrew Steptoe, Di Gessa Giorgio, Jingmin Zhu, Paola Zaninotto, Angela Wood, Genevieve Cezard, Samantha Ip, Tom Bolton, Alexia Sampri, Elena Rafeti, Fatima Almaghrabi, Aziz Sheikh, Syed A Shah, Vittal Katikireddi, Richard Shaw, Olivia Hamilton, Michael Green, Theocharis Kromydas, Daniel Kopasker, Felix Greaves, Robert Willans, Fiona Glen, Steve Sharp, Alun Hughes, Andrew Wong, Lee Hamill Howes, Alicja Rapala, Lidia Nigrelli, Fintan McArdle, Chelsea Beckford, Betty Raman, Richard Dobson, Amos Folarin, Callum Stewart, Yatharth Ranjan, Jd Carpentieri, Laura Sheard, Chao Fang, Sarah Baz, Andy Gibson, John Kellas, Stefan Neubauer, Stefan Piechnik, Elena Lukaschuk, Laura C Saunders, James M Wild, Stephen Smith, Peter Jezzard, Elizabeth Tunnicliffe, Zeena-Britt Sanders, Lucy Finnigan, Vanessa Ferreira, Mark Green, Rebecca Rhead, Milla Kibble, Yinghui Wei, Agnieszka Lemanska, Francisco Perez-Reche, Dominik Piehlmaier, Lucy Teece, Edward Parker

Rheumatology, Start page: keaf559

Swansea University Authors: Michael Parker, Jonathan Kennedy, Sinead Brophy Orcid Logo

Full text not available from this repository: check for access using links below.

Check full text

DOI (Published version): 10.1093/rheumatology/keaf559

Abstract

Objectives: We aimed to estimate how rheumatology outpatient hospital attendances have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic and determine demographic characteristics associated with observed changes. Methods: Using three primary and secondary care electronic health record datasets in England (with th...

Full description

Published in: Rheumatology
ISSN: 1462-0324 1462-0332
Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2025
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70816
first_indexed 2025-11-03T10:51:37Z
last_indexed 2025-12-05T18:11:35Z
id cronfa70816
recordtype SURis
fullrecord <?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2025-12-04T10:58:26.4884268</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>70816</id><entry>2025-11-03</entry><title>Outpatient hospital attendances in people with rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A cohort study in three nations of the UK</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>a4dfe07a6b18fdf6d537962b8f24fbdf</sid><firstname>Michael</firstname><surname>Parker</surname><name>Michael Parker</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author><author><sid>08163d1f58d7fefcb1c695bcc2e0ef68</sid><ORCID/><firstname>Jonathan</firstname><surname>Kennedy</surname><name>Jonathan Kennedy</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author><author><sid>84f5661b35a729f55047f9e793d8798b</sid><ORCID>0000-0001-7417-2858</ORCID><firstname>Sinead</firstname><surname>Brophy</surname><name>Sinead Brophy</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2025-11-03</date><deptcode>MEDS</deptcode><abstract>Objectives: We aimed to estimate how rheumatology outpatient hospital attendances have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic and determine demographic characteristics associated with observed changes. Methods: Using three primary and secondary care electronic health record datasets in England (with the approval of NHS England), Scotland, and Wales, we identified people with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) before 01/04/2019. We determined the proportion of people with rheumatology hospital outpatient appointments each month (April 2019-December 2022 (Wales and Scotland), November 2023 (England)) and quantified changes using interrupted time-series analysis. We used logistic regression to determine characteristics associated with having fewer appointments compared with 2019. Results: We identified 145 065, 3,813 and 13 637 people coded with RA in England, Scotland, and Wales, respectively. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic the number of rheumatology outpatient appointments dropped sharply across all nations. In England and Scotland, the percentage of monthly appointments has continued to decline. In Wales, while there was a gradual recovery, rheumatology services have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. In contrast, the number of appointments for other specialties has recovered in all nations. People with no rheumatology outpatient appointments were more often aged over 80, male, and living in rural areas. Ethnic minorities, those living in more deprived, and urban areas had fewer appointments after the start of the pandemic compared with 2019. Conclusion: For the first time, we compared healthcare use across three UK nations and found rheumatology outpatient appointments had not recovered to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, particularly in Scotland and England.</abstract><type>Journal Article</type><journal>Rheumatology</journal><volume>0</volume><journalNumber/><paginationStart>keaf559</paginationStart><paginationEnd/><publisher>Oxford University Press (OUP)</publisher><placeOfPublication/><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint>1462-0324</issnPrint><issnElectronic>1462-0332</issnElectronic><keywords>Rheumatoid Arthritis, delivery of health care, inequalities, observational studies, organisation of health care</keywords><publishedDay>24</publishedDay><publishedMonth>10</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2025</publishedYear><publishedDate>2025-10-24</publishedDate><doi>10.1093/rheumatology/keaf559</doi><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Medical School</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>MEDS</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm>Another institution paid the OA fee</apcterm><funders>In England, the OpenSAFELY platform is principally funded by grants from: &#x2022; NHS England [2023-2025]; &#x2022; The Wellcome Trust (222097/Z/20/Z) [2020-2024]; &#x2022; MRC (MR/V015737/1) [2020-2021]. Additional contributions to OpenSAFELY have been funded by grants from: &#x2022; MRC via the National Core Study programme, Longitudinal Health and Wellbeing strand (MC_PC_20030, MC_PC_20059) [2020-2022] and the Data and Connectivity strand (MC_PC_20058) [2021-2022]; &#x2022; NIHR and MRC via the CONVALESCENCE programme (COV-LT-0009, MC_PC_20051) [2021-2024]; &#x2022; NHS England via the Primary Care Medicines Analytics Unit [2021-2024]. Funding for the RHEUMAPS study and creation and analysis of the Scotland and Wales datasets used in this study was provided by the Nuffield Foundation Oliver Bird Fund (grant number OBF/44000).</funders><projectreference/><lastEdited>2025-12-04T10:58:26.4884268</lastEdited><Created>2025-11-03T10:42:18.0022193</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences</level><level id="2">Swansea University Medical School - Health Data Science</level></path><authors><author><firstname>Ruth E</firstname><surname>Costello</surname><order>1</order></author><author><firstname>Michael</firstname><surname>Parker</surname><order>2</order></author><author><firstname>Jonathan</firstname><surname>Kennedy</surname><orcid/><order>3</order></author><author><firstname>Sinead</firstname><surname>Brophy</surname><orcid>0000-0001-7417-2858</orcid><order>4</order></author><author><firstname>Amir</firstname><surname>Mehrkar</surname><order>5</order></author><author><firstname>Sebastian</firstname><surname>Bacon</surname><order>6</order></author><author><firstname>Ben</firstname><surname>Goldacre</surname><order>7</order></author><author><firstname>Brian</firstname><surname>MacKenna</surname><order>8</order></author><author><firstname>Dave</firstname><surname>Evans</surname><order>9</order></author><author><firstname>Laurie A</firstname><surname>Tomlinson</surname><order>10</order></author><author><firstname>Rosemary J</firstname><surname>Hollick</surname><order>11</order></author><author><firstname>Jenny H</firstname><surname>Humphreys</surname><order>12</order></author><author><firstname>Alex J</firstname><surname>Walker</surname><order>13</order></author><author><firstname>Brian</firstname><surname>MacKenna</surname><order>14</order></author><author><firstname>Peter</firstname><surname>Inglesby</surname><order>15</order></author><author><firstname>Ben</firstname><surname>Goldacre</surname><order>16</order></author><author><firstname>Helen J</firstname><surname>Curtis</surname><order>17</order></author><author><firstname>Caroline E</firstname><surname>Morton</surname><order>18</order></author><author><firstname>Jessica</firstname><surname>Morley</surname><order>19</order></author><author><firstname>Amir</firstname><surname>Mehrkar</surname><order>20</order></author><author><firstname>Sebastian C J</firstname><surname>Bacon</surname><order>21</order></author><author><firstname>George</firstname><surname>Hickman</surname><order>22</order></author><author><firstname>Richard</firstname><surname>Croker</surname><order>23</order></author><author><firstname>David</firstname><surname>Evans</surname><order>24</order></author><author><firstname>Tom</firstname><surname>Ward</surname><order>25</order></author><author><firstname>Nicholas J</firstname><surname>DeVito</surname><order>26</order></author><author><firstname>Louis</firstname><surname>Fisher</surname><order>27</order></author><author><firstname>Amelia C A</firstname><surname>Green</surname><order>28</order></author><author><firstname>Jon</firstname><surname>Massey</surname><order>29</order></author><author><firstname>Rebecca M</firstname><surname>Smith</surname><order>30</order></author><author><firstname>William J</firstname><surname>Hulme</surname><order>31</order></author><author><firstname>Simon</firstname><surname>Davy</surname><order>32</order></author><author><firstname>Colm D</firstname><surname>Andrews</surname><order>33</order></author><author><firstname>Lisa E M</firstname><surname>Hopcroft</surname><order>34</order></author><author><firstname>Henry</firstname><surname>Drysdale</surname><order>35</order></author><author><firstname>Iain</firstname><surname>Dillingham</surname><order>36</order></author><author><firstname>Robin Y</firstname><surname>Park</surname><order>37</order></author><author><firstname>Rose</firstname><surname>Higgins</surname><order>38</order></author><author><firstname>Christine</firstname><surname>Cunningham</surname><order>39</order></author><author><firstname>Milan</firstname><surname>Wiedemann</surname><order>40</order></author><author><firstname>Linda</firstname><surname>Nab</surname><order>41</order></author><author><firstname>Steven</firstname><surname>Maude</surname><order>42</order></author><author><firstname>Orla</firstname><surname>Macdonald</surname><order>43</order></author><author><firstname>Ben F C</firstname><surname>Butler-Cole</surname><order>44</order></author><author><firstname>Thomas</firstname><surname>O&#x2019;Dwyer</surname><order>45</order></author><author><firstname>Catherine L</firstname><surname>Stables</surname><order>46</order></author><author><firstname>Christopher</firstname><surname>Wood</surname><order>47</order></author><author><firstname>Andrew D</firstname><surname>Brown</surname><order>48</order></author><author><firstname>Victoria</firstname><surname>Speed</surname><order>49</order></author><author><firstname>Lucy</firstname><surname>Bridges</surname><order>50</order></author><author><firstname>Andrea L</firstname><surname>Schaffer</surname><order>51</order></author><author><firstname>Caroline E</firstname><surname>Walters</surname><order>52</order></author><author><firstname>Christopher T</firstname><surname>Rentsch</surname><order>53</order></author><author><firstname>Krishnan</firstname><surname>Bhaskaran</surname><order>54</order></author><author><firstname>Anna</firstname><surname>Schultze</surname><order>55</order></author><author><firstname>Elizabeth J</firstname><surname>Williamson</surname><order>56</order></author><author><firstname>Helen I</firstname><surname>McDonald</surname><order>57</order></author><author><firstname>Laurie A</firstname><surname>Tomlinson</surname><order>58</order></author><author><firstname>Rohini</firstname><surname>Mathur</surname><order>59</order></author><author><firstname>Rosalind M</firstname><surname>Eggo</surname><order>60</order></author><author><firstname>Kevin</firstname><surname>Wing</surname><order>61</order></author><author><firstname>Angel Y S</firstname><surname>Wong</surname><order>62</order></author><author><firstname>John</firstname><surname>Tazare</surname><order>63</order></author><author><firstname>Richard</firstname><surname>Grieve</surname><order>64</order></author><author><firstname>Daniel J</firstname><surname>Grint</surname><order>65</order></author><author><firstname>Sinead</firstname><surname>Langan</surname><order>66</order></author><author><firstname>Kathryn E</firstname><surname>Mansfield</surname><order>67</order></author><author><firstname>Ian J</firstname><surname>Douglas</surname><order>68</order></author><author><firstname>Stephen J W</firstname><surname>Evans</surname><order>69</order></author><author><firstname>Liam</firstname><surname>Smeeth</surname><order>70</order></author><author><firstname>Jemma L</firstname><surname>Walker</surname><order>71</order></author><author><firstname>Viyaasan</firstname><surname>Mahalingasivam</surname><order>72</order></author><author><firstname>Harriet</firstname><surname>Forbes</surname><order>73</order></author><author><firstname>Thomas E</firstname><surname>Cowling</surname><order>74</order></author><author><firstname>Emily L</firstname><surname>Herrett</surname><order>75</order></author><author><firstname>Ruth E</firstname><surname>Costello</surname><order>76</order></author><author><firstname>Bang</firstname><surname>Zheng</surname><order>77</order></author><author><firstname>Edward P K</firstname><surname>Parker</surname><order>78</order></author><author><firstname>Christopher</firstname><surname>Bates</surname><order>79</order></author><author><firstname>Jonathan</firstname><surname>Cockburn</surname><order>80</order></author><author><firstname>John</firstname><surname>Parry</surname><order>81</order></author><author><firstname>Frank</firstname><surname>Hester</surname><order>82</order></author><author><firstname>Sam</firstname><surname>Harper</surname><order>83</order></author><author><firstname>Shaun</firstname><surname>O&#x2019;Hanlon</surname><order>84</order></author><author><firstname>Alex</firstname><surname>Eavis</surname><order>85</order></author><author><firstname>Richard</firstname><surname>Jarvis</surname><order>86</order></author><author><firstname>Dima</firstname><surname>Avramov</surname><order>87</order></author><author><firstname>Paul</firstname><surname>Griffiths</surname><order>88</order></author><author><firstname>Aaron</firstname><surname>Fowles</surname><order>89</order></author><author><firstname>Nasreen</firstname><surname>Parkes</surname><order>90</order></author><author><firstname>Brian</firstname><surname>Nicholson</surname><order>91</order></author><author><firstname>Rafael</firstname><surname>Perera</surname><order>92</order></author><author><firstname>David</firstname><surname>Harrison</surname><order>93</order></author><author><firstname>Kamlesh</firstname><surname>Khunti</surname><order>94</order></author><author><firstname>Jonathan A C</firstname><surname>Sterne</surname><order>95</order></author><author><firstname>Jennifer</firstname><surname>Quint</surname><order>96</order></author><author><firstname>Rosemary J</firstname><surname>Hollick</surname><order>97</order></author><author><firstname>Corri</firstname><surname>Black</surname><order>98</order></author><author><firstname>Ernest</firstname><surname>Choy</surname><order>99</order></author><author><firstname>Gary</firstname><surname>Macfarlane</surname><order>100</order></author><author><firstname>Lorna</firstname><surname>Philip</surname><order>101</order></author><author><firstname>Michelle</firstname><surname>Stevenson</surname><order>102</order></author><author><firstname>Denise</firstname><surname>McFarlane</surname><order>103</order></author><author><firstname>Laura</firstname><surname>Moir</surname><order>104</order></author><author><firstname>Ian</firstname><surname>Allotay</surname><order>105</order></author><author><firstname>Philip</firstname><surname>Bell</surname><order>106</order></author><author><firstname>Amanda</firstname><surname>Cheesley</surname><order>107</order></author><author><firstname>Charlotte</firstname><surname>Marlow</surname><order>108</order></author><author><firstname>Farzana</firstname><surname>Kausir</surname><order>109</order></author><author><firstname>Emily</firstname><surname>Lam</surname><order>110</order></author><author><firstname>Inga</firstname><surname>Wood</surname><order>111</order></author><author><firstname>Nishi</firstname><surname>Chaturvedi</surname><order>112</order></author><author><firstname>Chloe</firstname><surname>Park</surname><order>113</order></author><author><firstname>Alisia</firstname><surname>Carnemolla</surname><order>114</order></author><author><firstname>Dylan</firstname><surname>Williams</surname><order>115</order></author><author><firstname>Anika</firstname><surname>Knueppel</surname><order>116</order></author><author><firstname>Andy</firstname><surname>Boyd</surname><order>117</order></author><author><firstname>Emma L</firstname><surname>Turner</surname><order>118</order></author><author><firstname>Katharine M</firstname><surname>Evans</surname><order>119</order></author><author><firstname>Richard</firstname><surname>Thomas</surname><order>120</order></author><author><firstname>Samantha</firstname><surname>Berman</surname><order>121</order></author><author><firstname>Stela</firstname><surname>McLachlan</surname><order>122</order></author><author><firstname>Matthew</firstname><surname>Crane</surname><order>123</order></author><author><firstname>Rebecca</firstname><surname>Whitehorn</surname><order>124</order></author><author><firstname>Jacqui</firstname><surname>Oakley</surname><order>125</order></author><author><firstname>Diane</firstname><surname>Foster</surname><order>126</order></author><author><firstname>Hannah</firstname><surname>Woodward</surname><order>127</order></author><author><firstname>Kirsteen C</firstname><surname>Campbell</surname><order>128</order></author><author><firstname>Nicholas</firstname><surname>Timpson</surname><order>129</order></author><author><firstname>Alex</firstname><surname>Kwong</surname><order>130</order></author><author><firstname>Ana Goncalves</firstname><surname>Soares</surname><order>131</order></author><author><firstname>Gareth</firstname><surname>Griffith</surname><order>132</order></author><author><firstname>Renin</firstname><surname>Toms</surname><order>133</order></author><author><firstname>Louise</firstname><surname>Jones</surname><order>134</order></author><author><firstname>Herbert</firstname><surname>Annie</surname><order>135</order></author><author><firstname>Ruth</firstname><surname>Mitchell</surname><order>136</order></author><author><firstname>Tom</firstname><surname>Palmer</surname><order>137</order></author><author><firstname>Jonathan</firstname><surname>Sterne</surname><order>138</order></author><author><firstname>Venexia</firstname><surname>Walker</surname><order>139</order></author><author><firstname>Lizzie</firstname><surname>Huntley</surname><order>140</order></author><author><firstname>Laura</firstname><surname>Fox</surname><order>141</order></author><author><firstname>Rachel</firstname><surname>Denholm</surname><order>142</order></author><author><firstname>Rochelle</firstname><surname>Knight</surname><order>143</order></author><author><firstname>Kate</firstname><surname>Northstone</surname><order>144</order></author><author><firstname>Arun</firstname><surname>Kanagaratnam</surname><order>145</order></author><author><firstname>Elsie</firstname><surname>Horne</surname><order>146</order></author><author><firstname>Harriet</firstname><surname>Forbes</surname><order>147</order></author><author><firstname>Teri</firstname><surname>North</surname><order>148</order></author><author><firstname>Kurt</firstname><surname>Taylor</surname><order>149</order></author><author><firstname>Marwa A L</firstname><surname>Arab</surname><order>150</order></author><author><firstname>Scott</firstname><surname>Walker</surname><order>151</order></author><author><firstname>Jose I C</firstname><surname>Coronado</surname><order>152</order></author><author><firstname>Arun S</firstname><surname>Karthikeyan</surname><order>153</order></author><author><firstname>George</firstname><surname>Ploubidis</surname><order>154</order></author><author><firstname>Bettina</firstname><surname>Moltrecht</surname><order>155</order></author><author><firstname>Charlotte</firstname><surname>Booth</surname><order>156</order></author><author><firstname>Sam</firstname><surname>Parsons</surname><order>157</order></author><author><firstname>Bozena</firstname><surname>Wielgoszewska</surname><order>158</order></author><author><firstname>Charis</firstname><surname>Bridger-Staatz</surname><order>159</order></author><author><firstname>Claire</firstname><surname>Steves</surname><order>160</order></author><author><firstname>Ellen</firstname><surname>Thompson</surname><order>161</order></author><author><firstname>Paz</firstname><surname>Garcia</surname><order>162</order></author><author><firstname>Nathan</firstname><surname>Cheetham</surname><order>163</order></author><author><firstname>Ruth</firstname><surname>Bowyer</surname><order>164</order></author><author><firstname>Maxim</firstname><surname>Freydin</surname><order>165</order></author><author><firstname>Amy</firstname><surname>Roberts</surname><order>166</order></author><author><firstname>Ben</firstname><surname>Goldacre</surname><order>167</order></author><author><firstname>Alex</firstname><surname>Walker</surname><order>168</order></author><author><firstname>Jess</firstname><surname>Morley</surname><order>169</order></author><author><firstname>William</firstname><surname>Hulme</surname><order>170</order></author><author><firstname>Linda</firstname><surname>Nab</surname><order>171</order></author><author><firstname>Louis</firstname><surname>Fisher</surname><order>172</order></author><author><firstname>Brian</firstname><surname>MacKenna</surname><order>173</order></author><author><firstname>Colm</firstname><surname>Andrews</surname><order>174</order></author><author><firstname>Helen</firstname><surname>Curtis</surname><order>175</order></author><author><firstname>Lisa</firstname><surname>Hopcroft</surname><order>176</order></author><author><firstname>Amelia</firstname><surname>Green</surname><order>177</order></author><author><firstname>Praveetha</firstname><surname>Patalay</surname><order>178</order></author><author><firstname>Jane</firstname><surname>Maddock</surname><order>179</order></author><author><firstname>Kishan</firstname><surname>Patel</surname><order>180</order></author><author><firstname>Jean</firstname><surname>Stafford</surname><order>181</order></author><author><firstname>Wels</firstname><surname>Jacques</surname><order>182</order></author><author><firstname>Kate</firstname><surname>Tilling</surname><order>183</order></author><author><firstname>John</firstname><surname>Macleod</surname><order>184</order></author><author><firstname>Eoin</firstname><surname>McElroy</surname><order>185</order></author><author><firstname>Anoop</firstname><surname>Shah</surname><order>186</order></author><author><firstname>Richard</firstname><surname>Silverwood</surname><order>187</order></author><author><firstname>Spiros</firstname><surname>Denaxas</surname><order>188</order></author><author><firstname>Robin</firstname><surname>Flaig</surname><order>189</order></author><author><firstname>Daniel</firstname><surname>McCartney</surname><order>190</order></author><author><firstname>Archie</firstname><surname>Campbell</surname><order>191</order></author><author><firstname>Laurie</firstname><surname>Tomlinson</surname><order>192</order></author><author><firstname>John</firstname><surname>Tazare</surname><order>193</order></author><author><firstname>Bang</firstname><surname>Zheng</surname><order>194</order></author><author><firstname>Liam</firstname><surname>Smeeth</surname><order>195</order></author><author><firstname>Emily</firstname><surname>Herrett</surname><order>196</order></author><author><firstname>Thomas</firstname><surname>Cowling</surname><order>197</order></author><author><firstname>Kate</firstname><surname>Mansfield</surname><order>198</order></author><author><firstname>Ruth E</firstname><surname>Costello</surname><order>199</order></author><author><firstname>Kevin</firstname><surname>Wang</surname><order>200</order></author><author><firstname>Kathryn</firstname><surname>Mansfield</surname><order>201</order></author><author><firstname>Viyaasan</firstname><surname>Mahalingasivam</surname><order>202</order></author><author><firstname>Ian</firstname><surname>Douglas</surname><order>203</order></author><author><firstname>Sinead</firstname><surname>Langan</surname><order>204</order></author><author><firstname>Sinead</firstname><surname>Brophy</surname><order>205</order></author><author><firstname>Michael</firstname><surname>Parker</surname><order>206</order></author><author><firstname>Jonathan</firstname><surname>Kennedy</surname><order>207</order></author><author><firstname>Rosie</firstname><surname>McEachan</surname><order>208</order></author><author><firstname>John</firstname><surname>Wright</surname><order>209</order></author><author><firstname>Kathryn</firstname><surname>Willan</surname><order>210</order></author><author><firstname>Ellena</firstname><surname>Badrick</surname><order>211</order></author><author><firstname>Gillian</firstname><surname>Santorelli</surname><order>212</order></author><author><firstname>Tiffany</firstname><surname>Yang</surname><order>213</order></author><author><firstname>Bo</firstname><surname>Hou</surname><order>214</order></author><author><firstname>Andrew</firstname><surname>Steptoe</surname><order>215</order></author><author><firstname>Di Gessa</firstname><surname>Giorgio</surname><order>216</order></author><author><firstname>Jingmin</firstname><surname>Zhu</surname><order>217</order></author><author><firstname>Paola</firstname><surname>Zaninotto</surname><order>218</order></author><author><firstname>Angela</firstname><surname>Wood</surname><order>219</order></author><author><firstname>Genevieve</firstname><surname>Cezard</surname><order>220</order></author><author><firstname>Samantha</firstname><surname>Ip</surname><order>221</order></author><author><firstname>Tom</firstname><surname>Bolton</surname><order>222</order></author><author><firstname>Alexia</firstname><surname>Sampri</surname><order>223</order></author><author><firstname>Elena</firstname><surname>Rafeti</surname><order>224</order></author><author><firstname>Fatima</firstname><surname>Almaghrabi</surname><order>225</order></author><author><firstname>Aziz</firstname><surname>Sheikh</surname><order>226</order></author><author><firstname>Syed A</firstname><surname>Shah</surname><order>227</order></author><author><firstname>Vittal</firstname><surname>Katikireddi</surname><order>228</order></author><author><firstname>Richard</firstname><surname>Shaw</surname><order>229</order></author><author><firstname>Olivia</firstname><surname>Hamilton</surname><order>230</order></author><author><firstname>Michael</firstname><surname>Green</surname><order>231</order></author><author><firstname>Theocharis</firstname><surname>Kromydas</surname><order>232</order></author><author><firstname>Daniel</firstname><surname>Kopasker</surname><order>233</order></author><author><firstname>Felix</firstname><surname>Greaves</surname><order>234</order></author><author><firstname>Robert</firstname><surname>Willans</surname><order>235</order></author><author><firstname>Fiona</firstname><surname>Glen</surname><order>236</order></author><author><firstname>Steve</firstname><surname>Sharp</surname><order>237</order></author><author><firstname>Alun</firstname><surname>Hughes</surname><order>238</order></author><author><firstname>Andrew</firstname><surname>Wong</surname><order>239</order></author><author><firstname>Lee Hamill</firstname><surname>Howes</surname><order>240</order></author><author><firstname>Alicja</firstname><surname>Rapala</surname><order>241</order></author><author><firstname>Lidia</firstname><surname>Nigrelli</surname><order>242</order></author><author><firstname>Fintan</firstname><surname>McArdle</surname><order>243</order></author><author><firstname>Chelsea</firstname><surname>Beckford</surname><order>244</order></author><author><firstname>Betty</firstname><surname>Raman</surname><order>245</order></author><author><firstname>Richard</firstname><surname>Dobson</surname><order>246</order></author><author><firstname>Amos</firstname><surname>Folarin</surname><order>247</order></author><author><firstname>Callum</firstname><surname>Stewart</surname><order>248</order></author><author><firstname>Yatharth</firstname><surname>Ranjan</surname><order>249</order></author><author><firstname>Jd</firstname><surname>Carpentieri</surname><order>250</order></author><author><firstname>Laura</firstname><surname>Sheard</surname><order>251</order></author><author><firstname>Chao</firstname><surname>Fang</surname><order>252</order></author><author><firstname>Sarah</firstname><surname>Baz</surname><order>253</order></author><author><firstname>Andy</firstname><surname>Gibson</surname><order>254</order></author><author><firstname>John</firstname><surname>Kellas</surname><order>255</order></author><author><firstname>Stefan</firstname><surname>Neubauer</surname><order>256</order></author><author><firstname>Stefan</firstname><surname>Piechnik</surname><order>257</order></author><author><firstname>Elena</firstname><surname>Lukaschuk</surname><order>258</order></author><author><firstname>Laura C</firstname><surname>Saunders</surname><order>259</order></author><author><firstname>James M</firstname><surname>Wild</surname><order>260</order></author><author><firstname>Stephen</firstname><surname>Smith</surname><order>261</order></author><author><firstname>Peter</firstname><surname>Jezzard</surname><order>262</order></author><author><firstname>Elizabeth</firstname><surname>Tunnicliffe</surname><order>263</order></author><author><firstname>Zeena-Britt</firstname><surname>Sanders</surname><order>264</order></author><author><firstname>Lucy</firstname><surname>Finnigan</surname><order>265</order></author><author><firstname>Vanessa</firstname><surname>Ferreira</surname><order>266</order></author><author><firstname>Mark</firstname><surname>Green</surname><order>267</order></author><author><firstname>Rebecca</firstname><surname>Rhead</surname><order>268</order></author><author><firstname>Milla</firstname><surname>Kibble</surname><order>269</order></author><author><firstname>Yinghui</firstname><surname>Wei</surname><order>270</order></author><author><firstname>Agnieszka</firstname><surname>Lemanska</surname><order>271</order></author><author><firstname>Francisco</firstname><surname>Perez-Reche</surname><order>272</order></author><author><firstname>Dominik</firstname><surname>Piehlmaier</surname><order>273</order></author><author><firstname>Lucy</firstname><surname>Teece</surname><order>274</order></author><author><firstname>Edward</firstname><surname>Parker</surname><order>275</order></author></authors><documents/><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling 2025-12-04T10:58:26.4884268 v2 70816 2025-11-03 Outpatient hospital attendances in people with rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A cohort study in three nations of the UK a4dfe07a6b18fdf6d537962b8f24fbdf Michael Parker Michael Parker true false 08163d1f58d7fefcb1c695bcc2e0ef68 Jonathan Kennedy Jonathan Kennedy true false 84f5661b35a729f55047f9e793d8798b 0000-0001-7417-2858 Sinead Brophy Sinead Brophy true false 2025-11-03 MEDS Objectives: We aimed to estimate how rheumatology outpatient hospital attendances have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic and determine demographic characteristics associated with observed changes. Methods: Using three primary and secondary care electronic health record datasets in England (with the approval of NHS England), Scotland, and Wales, we identified people with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) before 01/04/2019. We determined the proportion of people with rheumatology hospital outpatient appointments each month (April 2019-December 2022 (Wales and Scotland), November 2023 (England)) and quantified changes using interrupted time-series analysis. We used logistic regression to determine characteristics associated with having fewer appointments compared with 2019. Results: We identified 145 065, 3,813 and 13 637 people coded with RA in England, Scotland, and Wales, respectively. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic the number of rheumatology outpatient appointments dropped sharply across all nations. In England and Scotland, the percentage of monthly appointments has continued to decline. In Wales, while there was a gradual recovery, rheumatology services have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. In contrast, the number of appointments for other specialties has recovered in all nations. People with no rheumatology outpatient appointments were more often aged over 80, male, and living in rural areas. Ethnic minorities, those living in more deprived, and urban areas had fewer appointments after the start of the pandemic compared with 2019. Conclusion: For the first time, we compared healthcare use across three UK nations and found rheumatology outpatient appointments had not recovered to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, particularly in Scotland and England. Journal Article Rheumatology 0 keaf559 Oxford University Press (OUP) 1462-0324 1462-0332 Rheumatoid Arthritis, delivery of health care, inequalities, observational studies, organisation of health care 24 10 2025 2025-10-24 10.1093/rheumatology/keaf559 COLLEGE NANME Medical School COLLEGE CODE MEDS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee In England, the OpenSAFELY platform is principally funded by grants from: • NHS England [2023-2025]; • The Wellcome Trust (222097/Z/20/Z) [2020-2024]; • MRC (MR/V015737/1) [2020-2021]. Additional contributions to OpenSAFELY have been funded by grants from: • MRC via the National Core Study programme, Longitudinal Health and Wellbeing strand (MC_PC_20030, MC_PC_20059) [2020-2022] and the Data and Connectivity strand (MC_PC_20058) [2021-2022]; • NIHR and MRC via the CONVALESCENCE programme (COV-LT-0009, MC_PC_20051) [2021-2024]; • NHS England via the Primary Care Medicines Analytics Unit [2021-2024]. Funding for the RHEUMAPS study and creation and analysis of the Scotland and Wales datasets used in this study was provided by the Nuffield Foundation Oliver Bird Fund (grant number OBF/44000). 2025-12-04T10:58:26.4884268 2025-11-03T10:42:18.0022193 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences Swansea University Medical School - Health Data Science Ruth E Costello 1 Michael Parker 2 Jonathan Kennedy 3 Sinead Brophy 0000-0001-7417-2858 4 Amir Mehrkar 5 Sebastian Bacon 6 Ben Goldacre 7 Brian MacKenna 8 Dave Evans 9 Laurie A Tomlinson 10 Rosemary J Hollick 11 Jenny H Humphreys 12 Alex J Walker 13 Brian MacKenna 14 Peter Inglesby 15 Ben Goldacre 16 Helen J Curtis 17 Caroline E Morton 18 Jessica Morley 19 Amir Mehrkar 20 Sebastian C J Bacon 21 George Hickman 22 Richard Croker 23 David Evans 24 Tom Ward 25 Nicholas J DeVito 26 Louis Fisher 27 Amelia C A Green 28 Jon Massey 29 Rebecca M Smith 30 William J Hulme 31 Simon Davy 32 Colm D Andrews 33 Lisa E M Hopcroft 34 Henry Drysdale 35 Iain Dillingham 36 Robin Y Park 37 Rose Higgins 38 Christine Cunningham 39 Milan Wiedemann 40 Linda Nab 41 Steven Maude 42 Orla Macdonald 43 Ben F C Butler-Cole 44 Thomas O’Dwyer 45 Catherine L Stables 46 Christopher Wood 47 Andrew D Brown 48 Victoria Speed 49 Lucy Bridges 50 Andrea L Schaffer 51 Caroline E Walters 52 Christopher T Rentsch 53 Krishnan Bhaskaran 54 Anna Schultze 55 Elizabeth J Williamson 56 Helen I McDonald 57 Laurie A Tomlinson 58 Rohini Mathur 59 Rosalind M Eggo 60 Kevin Wing 61 Angel Y S Wong 62 John Tazare 63 Richard Grieve 64 Daniel J Grint 65 Sinead Langan 66 Kathryn E Mansfield 67 Ian J Douglas 68 Stephen J W Evans 69 Liam Smeeth 70 Jemma L Walker 71 Viyaasan Mahalingasivam 72 Harriet Forbes 73 Thomas E Cowling 74 Emily L Herrett 75 Ruth E Costello 76 Bang Zheng 77 Edward P K Parker 78 Christopher Bates 79 Jonathan Cockburn 80 John Parry 81 Frank Hester 82 Sam Harper 83 Shaun O’Hanlon 84 Alex Eavis 85 Richard Jarvis 86 Dima Avramov 87 Paul Griffiths 88 Aaron Fowles 89 Nasreen Parkes 90 Brian Nicholson 91 Rafael Perera 92 David Harrison 93 Kamlesh Khunti 94 Jonathan A C Sterne 95 Jennifer Quint 96 Rosemary J Hollick 97 Corri Black 98 Ernest Choy 99 Gary Macfarlane 100 Lorna Philip 101 Michelle Stevenson 102 Denise McFarlane 103 Laura Moir 104 Ian Allotay 105 Philip Bell 106 Amanda Cheesley 107 Charlotte Marlow 108 Farzana Kausir 109 Emily Lam 110 Inga Wood 111 Nishi Chaturvedi 112 Chloe Park 113 Alisia Carnemolla 114 Dylan Williams 115 Anika Knueppel 116 Andy Boyd 117 Emma L Turner 118 Katharine M Evans 119 Richard Thomas 120 Samantha Berman 121 Stela McLachlan 122 Matthew Crane 123 Rebecca Whitehorn 124 Jacqui Oakley 125 Diane Foster 126 Hannah Woodward 127 Kirsteen C Campbell 128 Nicholas Timpson 129 Alex Kwong 130 Ana Goncalves Soares 131 Gareth Griffith 132 Renin Toms 133 Louise Jones 134 Herbert Annie 135 Ruth Mitchell 136 Tom Palmer 137 Jonathan Sterne 138 Venexia Walker 139 Lizzie Huntley 140 Laura Fox 141 Rachel Denholm 142 Rochelle Knight 143 Kate Northstone 144 Arun Kanagaratnam 145 Elsie Horne 146 Harriet Forbes 147 Teri North 148 Kurt Taylor 149 Marwa A L Arab 150 Scott Walker 151 Jose I C Coronado 152 Arun S Karthikeyan 153 George Ploubidis 154 Bettina Moltrecht 155 Charlotte Booth 156 Sam Parsons 157 Bozena Wielgoszewska 158 Charis Bridger-Staatz 159 Claire Steves 160 Ellen Thompson 161 Paz Garcia 162 Nathan Cheetham 163 Ruth Bowyer 164 Maxim Freydin 165 Amy Roberts 166 Ben Goldacre 167 Alex Walker 168 Jess Morley 169 William Hulme 170 Linda Nab 171 Louis Fisher 172 Brian MacKenna 173 Colm Andrews 174 Helen Curtis 175 Lisa Hopcroft 176 Amelia Green 177 Praveetha Patalay 178 Jane Maddock 179 Kishan Patel 180 Jean Stafford 181 Wels Jacques 182 Kate Tilling 183 John Macleod 184 Eoin McElroy 185 Anoop Shah 186 Richard Silverwood 187 Spiros Denaxas 188 Robin Flaig 189 Daniel McCartney 190 Archie Campbell 191 Laurie Tomlinson 192 John Tazare 193 Bang Zheng 194 Liam Smeeth 195 Emily Herrett 196 Thomas Cowling 197 Kate Mansfield 198 Ruth E Costello 199 Kevin Wang 200 Kathryn Mansfield 201 Viyaasan Mahalingasivam 202 Ian Douglas 203 Sinead Langan 204 Sinead Brophy 205 Michael Parker 206 Jonathan Kennedy 207 Rosie McEachan 208 John Wright 209 Kathryn Willan 210 Ellena Badrick 211 Gillian Santorelli 212 Tiffany Yang 213 Bo Hou 214 Andrew Steptoe 215 Di Gessa Giorgio 216 Jingmin Zhu 217 Paola Zaninotto 218 Angela Wood 219 Genevieve Cezard 220 Samantha Ip 221 Tom Bolton 222 Alexia Sampri 223 Elena Rafeti 224 Fatima Almaghrabi 225 Aziz Sheikh 226 Syed A Shah 227 Vittal Katikireddi 228 Richard Shaw 229 Olivia Hamilton 230 Michael Green 231 Theocharis Kromydas 232 Daniel Kopasker 233 Felix Greaves 234 Robert Willans 235 Fiona Glen 236 Steve Sharp 237 Alun Hughes 238 Andrew Wong 239 Lee Hamill Howes 240 Alicja Rapala 241 Lidia Nigrelli 242 Fintan McArdle 243 Chelsea Beckford 244 Betty Raman 245 Richard Dobson 246 Amos Folarin 247 Callum Stewart 248 Yatharth Ranjan 249 Jd Carpentieri 250 Laura Sheard 251 Chao Fang 252 Sarah Baz 253 Andy Gibson 254 John Kellas 255 Stefan Neubauer 256 Stefan Piechnik 257 Elena Lukaschuk 258 Laura C Saunders 259 James M Wild 260 Stephen Smith 261 Peter Jezzard 262 Elizabeth Tunnicliffe 263 Zeena-Britt Sanders 264 Lucy Finnigan 265 Vanessa Ferreira 266 Mark Green 267 Rebecca Rhead 268 Milla Kibble 269 Yinghui Wei 270 Agnieszka Lemanska 271 Francisco Perez-Reche 272 Dominik Piehlmaier 273 Lucy Teece 274 Edward Parker 275
title Outpatient hospital attendances in people with rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A cohort study in three nations of the UK
spellingShingle Outpatient hospital attendances in people with rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A cohort study in three nations of the UK
Michael Parker
Jonathan Kennedy
Sinead Brophy
title_short Outpatient hospital attendances in people with rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A cohort study in three nations of the UK
title_full Outpatient hospital attendances in people with rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A cohort study in three nations of the UK
title_fullStr Outpatient hospital attendances in people with rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A cohort study in three nations of the UK
title_full_unstemmed Outpatient hospital attendances in people with rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A cohort study in three nations of the UK
title_sort Outpatient hospital attendances in people with rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A cohort study in three nations of the UK
author_id_str_mv a4dfe07a6b18fdf6d537962b8f24fbdf
08163d1f58d7fefcb1c695bcc2e0ef68
84f5661b35a729f55047f9e793d8798b
author_id_fullname_str_mv a4dfe07a6b18fdf6d537962b8f24fbdf_***_Michael Parker
08163d1f58d7fefcb1c695bcc2e0ef68_***_Jonathan Kennedy
84f5661b35a729f55047f9e793d8798b_***_Sinead Brophy
author Michael Parker
Jonathan Kennedy
Sinead Brophy
author2 Ruth E Costello
Michael Parker
Jonathan Kennedy
Sinead Brophy
Amir Mehrkar
Sebastian Bacon
Ben Goldacre
Brian MacKenna
Dave Evans
Laurie A Tomlinson
Rosemary J Hollick
Jenny H Humphreys
Alex J Walker
Brian MacKenna
Peter Inglesby
Ben Goldacre
Helen J Curtis
Caroline E Morton
Jessica Morley
Amir Mehrkar
Sebastian C J Bacon
George Hickman
Richard Croker
David Evans
Tom Ward
Nicholas J DeVito
Louis Fisher
Amelia C A Green
Jon Massey
Rebecca M Smith
William J Hulme
Simon Davy
Colm D Andrews
Lisa E M Hopcroft
Henry Drysdale
Iain Dillingham
Robin Y Park
Rose Higgins
Christine Cunningham
Milan Wiedemann
Linda Nab
Steven Maude
Orla Macdonald
Ben F C Butler-Cole
Thomas O’Dwyer
Catherine L Stables
Christopher Wood
Andrew D Brown
Victoria Speed
Lucy Bridges
Andrea L Schaffer
Caroline E Walters
Christopher T Rentsch
Krishnan Bhaskaran
Anna Schultze
Elizabeth J Williamson
Helen I McDonald
Laurie A Tomlinson
Rohini Mathur
Rosalind M Eggo
Kevin Wing
Angel Y S Wong
John Tazare
Richard Grieve
Daniel J Grint
Sinead Langan
Kathryn E Mansfield
Ian J Douglas
Stephen J W Evans
Liam Smeeth
Jemma L Walker
Viyaasan Mahalingasivam
Harriet Forbes
Thomas E Cowling
Emily L Herrett
Ruth E Costello
Bang Zheng
Edward P K Parker
Christopher Bates
Jonathan Cockburn
John Parry
Frank Hester
Sam Harper
Shaun O’Hanlon
Alex Eavis
Richard Jarvis
Dima Avramov
Paul Griffiths
Aaron Fowles
Nasreen Parkes
Brian Nicholson
Rafael Perera
David Harrison
Kamlesh Khunti
Jonathan A C Sterne
Jennifer Quint
Rosemary J Hollick
Corri Black
Ernest Choy
Gary Macfarlane
Lorna Philip
Michelle Stevenson
Denise McFarlane
Laura Moir
Ian Allotay
Philip Bell
Amanda Cheesley
Charlotte Marlow
Farzana Kausir
Emily Lam
Inga Wood
Nishi Chaturvedi
Chloe Park
Alisia Carnemolla
Dylan Williams
Anika Knueppel
Andy Boyd
Emma L Turner
Katharine M Evans
Richard Thomas
Samantha Berman
Stela McLachlan
Matthew Crane
Rebecca Whitehorn
Jacqui Oakley
Diane Foster
Hannah Woodward
Kirsteen C Campbell
Nicholas Timpson
Alex Kwong
Ana Goncalves Soares
Gareth Griffith
Renin Toms
Louise Jones
Herbert Annie
Ruth Mitchell
Tom Palmer
Jonathan Sterne
Venexia Walker
Lizzie Huntley
Laura Fox
Rachel Denholm
Rochelle Knight
Kate Northstone
Arun Kanagaratnam
Elsie Horne
Harriet Forbes
Teri North
Kurt Taylor
Marwa A L Arab
Scott Walker
Jose I C Coronado
Arun S Karthikeyan
George Ploubidis
Bettina Moltrecht
Charlotte Booth
Sam Parsons
Bozena Wielgoszewska
Charis Bridger-Staatz
Claire Steves
Ellen Thompson
Paz Garcia
Nathan Cheetham
Ruth Bowyer
Maxim Freydin
Amy Roberts
Ben Goldacre
Alex Walker
Jess Morley
William Hulme
Linda Nab
Louis Fisher
Brian MacKenna
Colm Andrews
Helen Curtis
Lisa Hopcroft
Amelia Green
Praveetha Patalay
Jane Maddock
Kishan Patel
Jean Stafford
Wels Jacques
Kate Tilling
John Macleod
Eoin McElroy
Anoop Shah
Richard Silverwood
Spiros Denaxas
Robin Flaig
Daniel McCartney
Archie Campbell
Laurie Tomlinson
John Tazare
Bang Zheng
Liam Smeeth
Emily Herrett
Thomas Cowling
Kate Mansfield
Ruth E Costello
Kevin Wang
Kathryn Mansfield
Viyaasan Mahalingasivam
Ian Douglas
Sinead Langan
Sinead Brophy
Michael Parker
Jonathan Kennedy
Rosie McEachan
John Wright
Kathryn Willan
Ellena Badrick
Gillian Santorelli
Tiffany Yang
Bo Hou
Andrew Steptoe
Di Gessa Giorgio
Jingmin Zhu
Paola Zaninotto
Angela Wood
Genevieve Cezard
Samantha Ip
Tom Bolton
Alexia Sampri
Elena Rafeti
Fatima Almaghrabi
Aziz Sheikh
Syed A Shah
Vittal Katikireddi
Richard Shaw
Olivia Hamilton
Michael Green
Theocharis Kromydas
Daniel Kopasker
Felix Greaves
Robert Willans
Fiona Glen
Steve Sharp
Alun Hughes
Andrew Wong
Lee Hamill Howes
Alicja Rapala
Lidia Nigrelli
Fintan McArdle
Chelsea Beckford
Betty Raman
Richard Dobson
Amos Folarin
Callum Stewart
Yatharth Ranjan
Jd Carpentieri
Laura Sheard
Chao Fang
Sarah Baz
Andy Gibson
John Kellas
Stefan Neubauer
Stefan Piechnik
Elena Lukaschuk
Laura C Saunders
James M Wild
Stephen Smith
Peter Jezzard
Elizabeth Tunnicliffe
Zeena-Britt Sanders
Lucy Finnigan
Vanessa Ferreira
Mark Green
Rebecca Rhead
Milla Kibble
Yinghui Wei
Agnieszka Lemanska
Francisco Perez-Reche
Dominik Piehlmaier
Lucy Teece
Edward Parker
format Journal article
container_title Rheumatology
container_volume 0
container_start_page keaf559
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 1462-0324
1462-0332
doi_str_mv 10.1093/rheumatology/keaf559
publisher Oxford University Press (OUP)
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str Swansea University Medical School - Health Data Science{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Swansea University Medical School - Health Data Science
document_store_str 0
active_str 0
description Objectives: We aimed to estimate how rheumatology outpatient hospital attendances have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic and determine demographic characteristics associated with observed changes. Methods: Using three primary and secondary care electronic health record datasets in England (with the approval of NHS England), Scotland, and Wales, we identified people with a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) before 01/04/2019. We determined the proportion of people with rheumatology hospital outpatient appointments each month (April 2019-December 2022 (Wales and Scotland), November 2023 (England)) and quantified changes using interrupted time-series analysis. We used logistic regression to determine characteristics associated with having fewer appointments compared with 2019. Results: We identified 145 065, 3,813 and 13 637 people coded with RA in England, Scotland, and Wales, respectively. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic the number of rheumatology outpatient appointments dropped sharply across all nations. In England and Scotland, the percentage of monthly appointments has continued to decline. In Wales, while there was a gradual recovery, rheumatology services have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. In contrast, the number of appointments for other specialties has recovered in all nations. People with no rheumatology outpatient appointments were more often aged over 80, male, and living in rural areas. Ethnic minorities, those living in more deprived, and urban areas had fewer appointments after the start of the pandemic compared with 2019. Conclusion: For the first time, we compared healthcare use across three UK nations and found rheumatology outpatient appointments had not recovered to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, particularly in Scotland and England.
published_date 2025-10-24T05:31:46Z
_version_ 1851098091298488320
score 11.089386

Similar Items