OBJECTIVES: This study aims to identify temporal trends in physician office visits for lupus patients, describe lupus patient visit characteristics and medications prescribed for treatment of lupus and assess comorbidities associated with lupus patients.

METHODS: Using the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), a nationally representative survey of medical visits in the US, we evaluated medical visits for lupus patients and comorbidities from 2006-2016. The most frequently prescribed were identified. Data were analyzed to determine patient demographics, prescribed medications, comorbidities, and differences in prescribing clinicians. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses to determine trends in gender, age, race in patients with lupus were used. Comorbidities were assessed using ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes documented at each encounter. Analyses used IBM SPSS Statistics 25 AND R programming.

RESULTS: From 2006-2016, a total of 27,029,228 weighted visits for patients diagnosed with lupus were observed. The majority of visits were for female (N=24,433,014; 90%), white (N=21,315,958; 79%), Non-Hispanic (N=24,220,166; 90%) patients with private insurance (N=14,566,591; 54%). Visits for lupus patients varied over the years with 8,542,733 visits from 2006-2009, 10,357,909 visits from 2010-2012, and 8,128,586 visits from 2014-2016. Of the clinical characteristics, the majority of patients were seen for a chronic routine problem (N=16,482,576; 61%). Common reasons for visits documented for lupus patients included progress visits, complaints of tiredness/exhaustion, other musculoskeletal or connective tissue symptoms, and other diseases of the skin. Frequent chronic conditions and comorbidities seen included arthritis (N=23,598,666), hypertension (N=5,805,815), depression (N=3,295,863), hyperlipidemia (N= 2,976,044), and osteoporosis (N= 2,402,484).

CONCLUSIONS: This study provides valuable insight into the management of lupus as medication trends are reflective of comorbidities associated with lupus. By assessing the medications most frequently prescribed for the management of lupus, we hope to showcase the complexity of this disease that requires interdisciplinary management of healthcare professionals