Ageism in Rheumatology: the Healthcare Professional's Perspective.

IF 3.7 2区医学 Q1 RHEUMATOLOGY

Arthritis Care & Research Pub Date : 2025-04-21 DOI:10.1002/acr.25557

Aaron P Smith, Pooja M Achanta, Jiha Lee, Namrata Singh, Una E Makris

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective: Ageism (age-based stereotypes, prejudice, or discrimination) is prevalent and linked to prolonged disability and reduced lifespan in older adults. Little is known about ageism within rheumatology. This study explores the healthcare professional's (HCP) perception of the care of older adults and how ageist attitudes or perspectives may impact rheumatologic care.

Methods: A REDcap survey related to the clinical care of older adults that included the validated Expectations Regarding Aging (ERA-12) instrument (higher scores associated with less age-related bias) was administered to a convenience sample of HCP caring for patients with rheumatic disease. We calculated correlations between ERA-12 scores and the responses to other survey questions.

Results: 255 surveys were collected from 01/2023 to 12/2023. Respondents were predominantly female (63%), White (70%), physicians (75%) with academic (66%), urban (64%) practices and most practices having >25% adults over the age of 65 (88%). The median ERA-12 score was 36/48 indicating that respondents on average disagreed with the stereotypes regarding aging. Higher ERA-12 scores were associated with greater enjoyment of the care of older adults (p<0.001) and awareness of the Geriatric 5Ms (p<0.001), a framework for improving age-friendly care. Lower ERA-12 scores were associated with believing that older adults are more demanding of attention (p<0.001) and shifting from disease modifying therapy to symptom relief in older adults (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Stereotypical beliefs regarding aging are associated with self-reported changes to patient counseling and medical decision making, suggesting age related biases may affect the care of older adults with rheumatic diseases.

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风湿病学中的年龄歧视：医疗保健专业人员的观点。

目的：年龄歧视（基于年龄的刻板印象、偏见或歧视）普遍存在，并与老年人残疾延长和寿命缩短有关。风湿病学界对年龄歧视知之甚少。本研究探讨了医疗保健专业人员（HCP）对老年人护理的看法，以及年龄歧视的态度或观点如何影响风湿病护理。方法：一项与老年人临床护理相关的REDcap调查，包括经过验证的衰老预期（ERA-12）工具（得分越高，年龄相关偏差越小），用于风湿病患者HCP护理的方便样本。我们计算了ERA-12分数与其他调查问题的回答之间的相关性。结果：2023年1月至2023年12月共收集问卷255份。受访者主要是女性（63%），白人（70%），医生（75%），学术（66%），城市（64%）执业，大多数执业者有25%的65岁以上成年人（88%）。ERA-12的中位数为36/48，表明受访者普遍不同意对衰老的刻板印象。结论：关于衰老的刻板印象与自我报告的患者咨询和医疗决策的变化有关，表明年龄相关的偏见可能影响患有风湿性疾病的老年人的护理。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Arthritis Care & Research RHEUMATOLOGY-

CiteScore

9.40

自引率

6.40%

发文量

368

审稿时长

3-6 weeks

期刊介绍： Arthritis Care & Research, an official journal of the American College of Rheumatology and the Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (a division of the College), is a peer-reviewed publication that publishes original research, review articles, and editorials that promote excellence in the clinical practice of rheumatology. Relevant to the care of individuals with rheumatic diseases, major topics are evidence-based practice studies, clinical problems, practice guidelines, educational, social, and public health issues, health economics, health care policy, and future trends in rheumatology practice.