Purpose-built for physicians
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Social determinants of health contribute to significant disparities in rheumatology care, according to a presenter at the Rheumatology Nurses Society annual conference.
“We are so much more than our diagnosis or disease,” Nayimisha Balmuri, MD, MS, MSE, FAAP, FACR, assistant professor in clinical pediatrics in the Eudowood division of allergy, immunology and rheumatology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, told attendees. “There are patients that no matter what you prescribe, they always come back with active disease.”
Social determinants of health are often the reason why rheumatologists fail to achieve disease control in those patients, according to Balmuri. Housing, food, education, transportation access, violence, social support, employment and health behaviors all comprise social determinants of health.
“All of these factors affect patients’ disease and their ability to take medications,” Balmuri said.
