March 4, 2020

A new study showed that living in a disadvantaged neighborhood predicts poor retention (follow-up) care for people with lupus.  Retention was defined specifically has having two out-patient doctor visits or lab tests such as measuring complement levels.

Researchers looked at the records of 397 patients with lupus in terms of age, sex, race, ethnicity, smoker/non-smoker, neighborhood, number of lupus criteria as defined by standard diagnostic tools and lupus nephritis.

Of these variables, living in a disadvantaged neighborhood was the strongest factor in predicting poor follow-up care. No difference was seen based on age, sex, race or ethnicity.  Meeting more criteria for lupus and not smoking predicted better retention with care.

Researchers concluded that targeting vulnerable populations in disadvantaged neighborhoods with programs designed to improve retention could improve retention in care and reduce disparities in outcomes of treatment.

This study was published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.