Recently, Associate Professor Liu Sijia from the School of Law and Intellectual Property at our university collaborated with the School of Public Health at Guangzhou Medical University to publish an article titled “Refining Strategies for Biological and Targeted Synthetic DMARDs Initiation in Rheumatoid Arthritis” in the internationally renowned top-tier journal, The Lancet-Rheumatology. The study addresses treatment disparities among rheumatoid arthritis patients in England and Wales, UK, and proposes innovative recommendations for improvement, providing important reference for promoting global healthcare equity.
Rheumatoid arthritis, as a chronic disease affecting people worldwide, requires equitable and effective access to treatment medications. Research has shown that the broad categorization of ethnicity (e.g., grouping all Asian populations together) may obscure the very multifarious genetic, cultural, and physical attributes among groups characterized by different regions. It is recommended that future research consider reanalyzing racial categories and further stratify some regions at the granular level and enhance collaboration with National Early Inflammatory Arthritis Audit Organization to optimize ethnic classification to achieve greater accuracy. As for missing data for one or more variables, the team suggests the combination of multiple imputation with chained equations with Bayesian multiple imputation, which might help effectively minimize potential bias.
As a young PhD and scholar in law, Associate Professor Liu Sijia particularly emphasizes the importance of developing solutions from a public health perspective. He suggests improving medication adherence among minority ethnic groups such as South Asians through multilingual education and community engagement, thereby addressing the issue of healthcare resource accessibility at its source. The focus of this article aligns closely with the principles of public health law, such as health-care equity and the equitable distribution of medical resources. This is of great significance for public health departments to better understand the treatment needs of patients with chronic diseases from different ethnic groups, and to formulate targeted strategies based on public health law, and to ensure that vulnerable groups have equal access to effective treatment. Additionally, the findings of this study provide new theoretical basis for the translation of treatment strategies for rheumatic diseases.
The School of Law and Intellectual Property at Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University is the affiliated institution for this study, with Associate Professor Liu Sijia as the first author and Dr. Ma Jialao as the corresponding author. The Lancet is one of the world's top seven journals and the top-ranked authoritative journal in the medical field, with unparalleled influence in both the academic and public spheres globally. The Lancet Rheumatology, published by The Lancet, is also the third-ranked rheumatology journal in the world, with an impact factor of 15 in 2023.
