How do general practitioners identify inflammatory arthritis? A cohort analysis of Dutch general practitioner electronic medical records

Objective. To examine the symptoms, signs and additional investigations that general practitioners (GPs) used in the process of diagnosing recent-onset inflammatory arthritis. Here, we assumed that the recorded information was crucial in the diagnostic process of arthritis. Methods. A database including electronic medical records of 16 Dutch general practices with 44 350 patients was studied. Patients with an episode of RA and allied conditions according to the International Classification of Primary Care-1 code L88 (here summarized as inflammatory arthritis) in the period 2009–2013 were selec... Mehr ...