Health Care-Seeking Behaviors, Disease Progression, Medications, Knowledge of, and Attitudes Toward Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in China: Cross-sectional Survey Study.

BACKGROUND: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic autoimmune disease involving multiple organs throughout the body. The health care-seeking behaviors, disease progression of SLE, and patients' knowledge of and attitudes toward SLE have not been characterized in China. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to depict the health care-seeking behaviors, disease progression, and medications in patients with SLE and to examine the factors associated with their disease flares, knowledge, and attitudes toward SLE in China. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey in 27 provinces in China. Descriptive statistical methods were used to depict the demographic characteristics, health care-seeking behaviors, medications, and health status. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify the factors associated with disease flares, medication changes, and attitudes toward SLE. An ordinal regression model was used to examine the factors associated with the knowledge of the treatment guidelines. RESULTS: We recruited 1509 patients with SLE, and 715 had lupus nephritis (LN). Approximately 39.96% (603/1509) of the patients with SLE were primarily diagnosed with LN, and 12.4% (112/906) developed LN (mean time 5.2 years) from non-LN. Patients whose registered permanent residences or workplaces in other cities from the same province and adjacent provinces seeking health care accounted for 66.9% (569/850) and 48.8% (479/981) of the patients with SLE in the provincial capital cities, respectively. Mycophenolate mofetil was the most commonly used immunosuppressive drug in patients without LN (185/794, 23.3%) and patients with LN (307/715, 42.9%). Femoral head necrosis (71/228, 31.1%) and hypertension (99/229, 43.2%) were the most common adverse event (AE) and chronic disease during treatment, respectively. Change of hospitals for medical consultation (odds ratio [OR] 1.90, 95% CI 1.24-2.90) and development of 1 chronic disease (OR 3.60, 95% CI 2.04-6.24) and AE (OR 2.06, 95% CI 1.46-2.92) and more were associated with disease flares. A pregnancy plan (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.18-2.13) was associated with changes in medication. Only 242 (16.03%) patients with SLE were familiar with the treatment guidelines, and patients with LN tended to be more familiar with the disease (OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.81-2.68). After receiving treatment, 891 (59.04%) patients changed their attitudes toward SLE from fear to acceptance, and patients with college education or higher (OR 2.09, 95% CI 1.10-4.04) were associated with a positive attitude toward SLE. CONCLUSIONS: A large proportion of patients seeking health care in the provincial capital cities of China migrated from other cities. Persistent monitoring of potential AEs and chronic diseases during SLE treatment and managing patients who changed hospitals for medical consultation are essential for controlling disease flares. Patients had insufficient knowledge about SLE treatment guidelines and would benefit from health education to maintain a positive attitude toward SLE.

Prevalence and risk factors for bone loss in rheumatoid arthritis patients from South China: modeled by three methods.

BACKGROUND: To explore the prevalence of bone loss among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and healthy controls (HC) and further explored the risk factors for osteopenia and osteoporosis of RA patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken in four hospitals in different districts in South China to reveal the prevalence of bone loss in patients. Case records, laboratory tests, and bone mineral density (BMD) results of patients were collected. Traditional multivariable logistic regression analysis and two machine learning methods, including least absolute shrinkage selection operator (LASSO) and random forest (RF) were for exploring the risk factors for osteopenia or osteoporosis in RA patients. RESULTS: Four hundred five patients with RA and 198 HC were included. RA patients had lower BMD in almost BMD measurement sites than healthy controls; the decline of lumbar spine BMD was earlier than HC. RA patients were more likely to comorbid with osteopenia and osteoporosis (p for trend < 0.001) in the lumbar spine than HC. Higher serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 level and using tumor necrosis factor inhibitor in the last year were protective factors; aging, lower body mass index, and increased serum uric acid might be risk factors for bone loss. CONCLUSIONS: RA patients were more prone and earlier to have bone loss than HC. More attention should be paid to measuring BMD in RA patients aging with lower BMI or hyperuricemia. Besides, serum vitamin D and all three measurement sites are recommended to check routinely. TNFi usage in the last year might benefit bone mass.

Prevalence and risk factors for bone loss in Southern Chinese with rheumatic diseases.

BACKGROUD: This study is to explore the prevalence of different stages of bone loss and the potential risk factors in rheumatic patients. METHOD: A cross-sectional study recruits 1398 rheumatic patients and 302 healthy subjects. Demographic data, blood, and bone mineral density (BMD) tests are collected. Risk factors for bone loss in rheumatic patients are analyzed by logistic regression. RESULTS: (1) Rheumatic patients are consisted of 40.0% rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 14.7% systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 14.2% osteoarthritis (OA), 9.2% ankylosing spondylosis (AS), 7.9% gout, 7.0% primary Sjogren syndrome (pSS), 3.8% systemic sclerosis (SSc), and 3.2% mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD). (2) In male patients aged under 50 and premenopausal female patients, the bone mineral density score of AS (53.9%, P < 0.001) and SLE (39.6%, P = 0.034) patients is lower than the healthy controls (18.2%). (3) Osteopenia and osteoporosis are more prevailing in male patients aged or older than 50 and postmenopausal female patients with RA (P < 0.001), OA (P = 0.02) and SLE (P = 0.011) than healthy counterparts. (4) Those with SLE, RA and AS gain the highest odd ratio of 'score below the expected range for age', osteopenia and osteoporosis, respectively. (5) Age, female, low BMI and hypovitaminosis D are found negatively associated with bone loss. Dyslipidemia and hyperuricemia could be protective factors. CONCLUSION: Young patients with AS and SLE have a significant higher occurrence of bone loss, and older patients with RA, OA and SLE had higher prevalence than healthy counterparts. SLE, RA, SSc and AS were founded significant higher risks to develop into bone loss after adjustment. Age, BMI and gender were commonly-associated with bone loss in all age-stratified rheumatic patients. These findings were not markedly different from those of previous studies.