Geographic variations in rheumatoid arthritis treatment in Japan: A nationwide retrospective study using the national database of health insurance claims and specific health checkups of Japan

To characterize the treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) among institution types and prefectures in Japan.Using the National Database of Health Insurance Claims and Specific Health Checkups of Japan in the 2017 fiscal year, we investigated disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) and oral corticosteroid prescription trends across 825 thousand RA patients. These data were compared between specialized and non-specialized institutions and...