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Objective: To explore health-care use in the 12 months preceding a diagnosis of RA in Denmark., Methods: We conducted a population-based cohort study using data from national registries. Every patient diagnosed with RA in 2014-18 was matched to 10 reference individuals without RA from the Danish background population. Health-care use was defined as contacts to general practitioners, contacts to private practicing physiotherapists, and X-rays of hands and/or feet performed in primary or secondary care. We estimated the monthly contact rates for patients and references in the 12 months preceding the diagnosis, and we compared incidence rates for health-care use in each month between the two groups while adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and comorbidity., Results: We included 7427 patients with RA and 74 270 references. Patients with RA had increasing contact rates with general practitioners and physiotherapists from 6 to 8 months before the diagnosis. Compared with references, women with RA had statistically significantly more contacts to general practitioners and physiotherapists during all 12 months. A similar contact pattern was seen in men, albeit less distinct. The number of X-rays increased slightly from 8 months before the diagnosis, with a steep increase in the last 3 months., Conclusion: Increased contacts to general practitioners and physiotherapists were seen in all 12 months preceding the RA diagnosis, intensifying in the last 6 to 8 months. Imaging increased from 3 months before the diagnosis. This indicates an opportunity to expedite referral to specialist care and ensure earlier diagnosis of RA., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Objectives: Patients with low back pain (LBP) often demonstrate pain sensitization, high degree of pain catastrophizing, and psychological distress. This study investigated whether pain sensitization mechanisms, the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), and Start Back Screening Tool were associated with pain in recurrent LBP patients 12 weeks after consulting their general practitioner (GP)., Materials and Methods: In 45 LBP patients, pressure pain thresholds, temporal summation of pain (TSP), conditioned pain modulation (CPM), the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), and the PCS were assessed before consultation. Patients were classified into low to medium or high risk of poor prognosis on the basis of the Start Back Screening Tool. Worst pain within the last 24 hours was assessed on a visual analogue scale (VAS) at inclusion and 12 weeks after GP consultation., Results: VAS scores were reduced after 12 weeks in the low-to-medium (N=30, P<0.05), but not the high-risk group (N=15, P=0.40). RMDQ was reduced after 12 weeks (P<0.001), but with no difference between the groups. PCS was reduced in the low-to-medium and the high-risk group (P<0.05). TSP was significantly higher at follow-up in the high-risk group compared with the low-to-medium-risk group (P<0.05). A linear regression model explained 54.9% of the variance in VAS scores at follow-up utilizing baseline assessments of TSP, RMDQ, and PCS., Discussion: This study indicate that patients with LBP and high self-reported disability, high pain catastrophizing, and facilitated TSP assessed when consulting the GP might predictive poor pain progression 12 weeks after the consultation.