PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - SASHA BERNATSKY
AU  - PANTELIS PANOPOLIS
AU  - MARIE HUDSON
AU  - JANET POPE
AU  - SHARON LECLERCQ
AU  - DAVID ROBINSON
AU  - NIALL JONES
AU  - JANET MARKLAND
AU  - MAYSAN ABU-HAKIMA
AU  - JEAN-PIERRE MATHIEU
AU  - PETER DOCHERTY
AU  - NADER KHALIDI
AU  - EVELYN SUTTON
AU  - MURRAY BARON
AU  - the Canadian Scleroderma Research Group
TI  - Demographic and Clinical Factors Associated with Physician Service Use in Systemic Sclerosis
AID  - 10.3899/jrheum.080623
DP  - 2009 Jan 01
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - 96--98
VI  - 36
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/36/1/96.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/36/1/96.full
SO  - J Rheumatol2009 Jan 01; 36
AB  - Objective. To assess physician service use in a large sample of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), and to determine factors associated with physician use. Methods. Our sample was a national SSc registry maintaining data on demographics (age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, income) and clinical factors (disease onset, organ involvement, etc.). Registry cohort members completed detailed questionnaires, and rheumatologists provided clinical assessments. We examined cross-sectional data from 397 patients who provided information on physician visits in the past 12 months. Patients were classified as high physician-users if they reported more than the median number (6) of physician visits in the past year. In multivariate logistic regressions, we assessed the independent effects of race/ethnicity, education, degree of skin involvement, comorbidity, and SF-36 scores on physician use. Results. On average, subjects reported 3.8 visits per year to specialty physicians (SD 4.2) and 3.5 visits per year to family physicians (SD 4.3). Regression models suggested the following factors as independently associated with number of physician visits: high skin scores, greater comorbidity, and low physical component summary scores on the SF-36. Conclusion. There is evidence of independent relationships between clinical characteristics and physician use by patients with SSc.