Abstract
BACKGROUND: Whether social deprivation may affect diagnosis, management, and outcomes of subjects with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is unknown.
METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of subjects with CIDP attending University Hospitals Birmingham, UK. Demographics, clinical characteristics, treatment data, post-treatment outcomes and Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019 were collected. Postcodes were categorised in local vs. non-local and travelling distances to the hospital were ascertained.
RESULTS: We included 155 consecutive subjects with CIDP. Mean age was 62.2 years (SD: 15.1). Male to female ratio was 1.67:1. One-hundred and eighteen subjects (76.1%) had typical CIDP. Greater pre-treatment disability was independently associated with greater social deprivation (p = 0.031) and longer pre-treatment disease duration (p = 0.001). Neither use of high-cost first-line therapies, nor immunosuppressant usage, were associated with social deprivation. Post-treatment outcomes were not associated with social deprivation. Greater social deprivation was independently associated with younger age (p = 0.002), having a local post-code (p = 0.001) and living closer to the hospital (p < 0.001). Subjects from the two most socially deprived deciles were younger (p = 0.025) and more disabled pre-treatment (p = 0.028) than those from the two least deprived deciles. Significantly fewer tertiary referrals were received for the two most socially deprived deciles compared to the two least deprived deciles (9.9% vs. 31.3%; p = 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: Despite a publicly funded healthcare system with universal access, social deprivation independently contributed to greater pre-treatment disability in subjects with CIDP in this UK cohort. Social deprivation did not impact on treatments administered and post-treatment outcomes but may have influenced tertiary referral decisions to our centre.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e70054 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Early online date | 13 Aug 2025 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2025 |
Bibliographical note
Copyright © 2025 The Author(s). Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Peripheral Nerve Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium,provided the original work is properly cited.Keywords
- Diagnosis
- Treatment
- Disability
- Outcome
- Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy
- Social
- Index Of Multiple Deprivation