A new article from the IMAS project, entitled “Gender differences in Patient Journey to Diagnosis and Disease Outcomes: results from the European Map of Axial Spondyloarthritis (EMAS)” has been published in the journal Clinical Rheumatology.
Historically, axSpA has been conceived as a predominantly male disease, which could imply a bias during diagnosis and treatment of the disease, negatively affecting women. However, data on male-female differences in axSpA remain scarce. The EMAS results highlight that women with axSpA report a longer delay in diagnosis and a higher disease burden in a large sample of 2,846 participants from 13 European countries. This provides a solid basis for understanding gender differences in axSpA.
The results reflect the unmet needs of European female patients. Healthcare professionals should pay close attention to accurately diagnose and effectively treat axSpA cases, while further research should be conducted into the cause of the observed gender differences.
Link to the article: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10067-020-05558-7.pdf
