{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,13]],"date-time":"2026-07-13T10:05:40Z","timestamp":1783937140306,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"Walter de Gruyter GmbH","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780272000000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,13]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"j_rir-2026-0018_s_006\">\n                    <jats:title>Background and Objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Rheumatic diseases are among the most prevalent chronic health conditions worldwide. This study aimed to systematically assess the diagnostic, therapeutic, and service capabilities of rheumatology and immunology departments across China.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"j_rir-2026-0018_s_007\">\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A questionnaire-based survey was conducted among young and middle-aged rheumatologists from May to November 2023. The questionnaire collected data on demographics, departmental infrastructure, and service capabilities.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"j_rir-2026-0018_s_008\">\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A total of 2047 rheumatologists from 934 hospitals completed the survey. Among the participating hospitals, 817 (87.5%) were tertiary institutions. Most respondents (1970\/2047, 96.5%) reported that their hospitals had rheumatology and immunology departments. With respect to the departmental scale, 65.0% of the respondents reported having 20\u201350 inpatient beds, and 39.0% (603\/1546) of the departments had 6\u201310 physicians. Only 33.8% (691\/2045) of the hospitals were capable of performing basic immunologic blood tests. The availability of key modalities was as follows: dual-energy CT (60.6%, 1238\/2044), musculoskeletal ultrasound (87.0%, 1778\/2044), sacroiliac joint CT (90.9%, 1857\/2044), labial gland biopsy (81.3%, 1662\/2044), renal biopsy (80.6%, 1647\/2044), and synovial biopsy (62.6%, 1280\/2044). Most surveyed physicians used Western medicine for patient treatment. In addition, 89.0% (1806\/2030) of the respondents reported conducting follow-up for patients with chronic rheumatic disease.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"j_rir-2026-0018_s_009\">\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Rheumatology is among the fastest-growing specialties. Our survey highlights the need to enhance public awareness, optimize specialist training, and strengthen healthcare delivery and academic research. With increasing national attention, we anticipate considerable advancements in the fields of rheumatology and immunology in China.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1515\/rir-2026-0018","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,13]],"date-time":"2026-07-13T09:10:36Z","timestamp":1783933836000},"page":"117-122","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Health service capacity of rheumatology and immunology departments in China: A cross-sectional study of young and middle-aged physicians"],"prefix":"10.1515","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"Lin","family":"Qiao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH); Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College; National Clinical Research Center for Dermatologic and Immunologic Diseases (NCRC-DID), Ministry of Science & Technology; State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases; Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education , Beijing , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yan","family":"Geng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Peking University First Hospital , Beijing , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ling","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology, The First Hospital of Jilin University , Changchun , Jilin Province , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chanyuan","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH); Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College; National Clinical Research Center for Dermatologic and Immunologic Diseases (NCRC-DID), Ministry of Science & Technology; State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases; Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education , Beijing , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yingqian","family":"Mo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University , Guangzhou , Guangdong Province , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhu","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The First Affiliated Hospital of the University of Science and Technology of China, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei , Anhui Province , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiangfeng","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology, Zhoushan hospital , Zhoushan , Zhejiang Province , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lihua","family":"Duan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Jiangxi Provincial People\u2019s Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang Medical College , Nanchang , Jiangxi Province , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yi","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University,; Clinical Institute of Inflammation and Immunology, Frontiers Science Center for Disease-related Molecular Network, West China Hospital, Sichuan University , Chengdu , Sichuan Province , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiuliang","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH); Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College; National Clinical Research Center for Dermatologic and Immunologic Diseases (NCRC-DID), Ministry of Science & Technology; State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases; Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education , Beijing , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4541-9898","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Qian","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH); Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College; National Clinical Research Center for Dermatologic and Immunologic Diseases (NCRC-DID), Ministry of Science & Technology; State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases; Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education , Beijing , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-8484-2104","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yan","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH); Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College; National Clinical Research Center for Dermatologic and Immunologic Diseases (NCRC-DID), Ministry of Science & Technology; State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases; Key Laboratory of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Ministry of Education , Beijing , China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"374","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026071309102978035_j_rir-2026-0018_ref_001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Li R, Sun J, Ren LM, et al. 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