Characteristics Associated with Appointment No-Show at an Academic Uveitis Service

To examine the association between patient characteristics and appointment no-show among uveitis patients.

In this retrospective cohort study from a tertiary, academic uveitis service, we examined appointment attendance outcomes for patients with a uveitis diagnosis code and at least one completed encounter. We examined demographic, clinical, and appointment status data from the electronic health record from 2019 to 2023. The main outcome was the presence of ≥ 1 appointment that was not attended and not cancelled within 24 h, defined as "no-show" (NS). Univariable and multivariable regression models with robust variance estimation were used to identify risk factors for NS. Risk ratios (RR) were calculated and reported with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Sensitivity analyses were conducted to account for count of total appointments, to assess NS rate over the time that excludes peak disruptions from coronavirus disease 2019, and to impute missing data.

1,081 patients had 6843 scheduled encounters with the uveitis service, of whom 393 (36.4%) had at least one NS visit. In the adjusted analysis, younger age (adjusted RR [aRR] = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.03-3.13, age < 60 years compared to ≥ 80), Black race (aRR = 1.90, 95% CI: 1.58-2.27, p < 0.001), Medicaid insurance (aRR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.17-1.74, p < 0.001), and blindness (aRR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.05-1.95, p = 0.023) remained significant as risk factors for NS. Sensitivity analyses yielded consistent results.

Age, race, insurance status, and blindness are associated with NS among uveitis patients. Targeted interventions may mitigate NS rates and consequent undertreatment of potentially blinding inflammatory eye diseases.