Impact of socioeconomic gradients within and between countries on health of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA): Lessons from QUEST RA

In this chapter, we discuss challenges in collecting data on outcomes of patients who receive usual rheumatology care. We present results of the multinational Quantitative Monitoring of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (QUEST RA) study which is a successful example of quantitative clinical measuring of RA as part of routine clinical care in a large number of centres across more than 30 countries. We further elaborate on what we can learn from these data about inequalities and inequities, both within and between countries. Frameworks to understand socioeconomic determinants of health are presented and, in addition to the QUEST RA data, the literature is summarised to provide further evidence on how socioeconomic determinants can contribute to health disparities of patients within and between countries. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.