S.J. Katz, MD, C. Ye, MD, Division of Rheumatology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
J Rheumatol. 2023 Oct;50(10):1346-1349. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.221213. Epub 2023 Mar 15.
To examine the effect of biological sex on wait times to first rheumatology appointment in a central triage system before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Deidentified data of all referred patients between November 2019 and June 2022 were extracted from the electronic medical record. Variables, including time from referral to first appointment, biological sex, referral period, urgency status, age, and geographic location were collected and analyzed.
Twelve thousand eight hundred seventeen referrals were identified. Wait times increased by 24.23 days in the peri-COVID period ( < 0.001). In the pre-COVID period, there was no significant difference in wait times by biological sex or age. Triage urgency was a predictor of wait time, with semiurgent referrals seen 8.94 days (95% CI -15.90 to -1.99) sooner than routine referrals and urgent referrals seen 25.42 days (95% CI -50.36 to -0.47) sooner than routine referrals. In the peri-COVID period, there was a significant difference in wait time by biological sex with women waiting on average 10.03 days (95% CI 6.98-13.09) longer than men ( < 0.001). Older patients had shorter wait times than younger patients, with a difference of -4.64 days for every 10-year increase in age (95% CI -5.49 to -3.78). Triage urgency continued to be a predictor of wait time.
Women and younger patients appear to have been affected by wait time increases during the COVID-19 pandemic. This finding should be further investigated to determine its pervasiveness across other specialities and to better understand the underlying cause of this finding.
在冠状病毒病 2019（COVID-19）大流行前后，通过中央分诊系统，研究生物性别对首次风湿病预约等待时间的影响。
从电子病历中提取 2019 年 11 月至 2022 年 6 月期间所有转诊患者的匿名数据。收集并分析了从转诊到首次预约的时间、生物性别、转诊期、紧急程度、年龄和地理位置等变量。
共确定了 12817 例转诊患者。COVID 期间等待时间增加了 24.23 天（<0.001）。在 COVID 前期间，生物性别或年龄与等待时间无显著差异。分诊紧急程度是等待时间的预测因素，半紧急转诊比常规转诊早 8.94 天（95%CI-15.90 至-1.99），紧急转诊比常规转诊早 25.42 天（95%CI-50.36 至-0.47）。在 COVID 期间，生物性别对等待时间有显著影响，女性平均比男性等待时间长 10.03 天（95%CI6.98-13.09）（<0.001）。与年轻患者相比，年龄较大的患者等待时间更短，每增加 10 岁，等待时间减少 4.64 天（95%CI-5.49 至-3.78）。分诊紧急程度仍然是等待时间的预测因素。
COVID-19 大流行期间，女性和年轻患者的等待时间似乎有所增加。这一发现应进一步调查，以确定其在其他专科的普遍性，并更好地了解这一发现的潜在原因。
