Arthritis and other rheumatic conditions: Who is affected now, who will be affected later?

Abstract

Objective. We present national and state estimates for 1990 and projections for the year 2020 of the prevalence of self-reported arthritis and other rheumatic diseases and related activity limitations. We further suggest a research and policy agenda to address this important and growing public health problem.Methods. Estimates and projections were derived from household interviews conducted for the 1989-1991 National Health Interview Survey, and were applied to United States census population estimates for 1990 and projections for 2020.Results. The prevalence rate of self-reported arthritis and other rheumatic conditions in the United States is projected to increase from 15.0% (37.9 million) of the 1990 population to 18.2% (59.4 million] of the estimated 2020 population. Activity limitation attributed to these conditions is projected to increase from 2.8% (7.0 million) of the 1990 population to 3.6% (11.6 million) of the 2020 population. Prevalence rates were higher for older persons, women, residents of nonmetropolitan areas, and those with less education or lower income.Conclusions. Arthritis and other rheumatic conditions are frequent and disabling public health problems now, and are projected to become even more so by 2020. Implementing the suggested research and public health agenda could reduce the occurrence and impact of these conditions.

Magnitude and characteristics of arthritis and other rheumatic conditions on ambulatory medical care visits, United States, 1997

“…Persons of all ages made these visits, although the rates of visits were greatest among older ages, paralleling previous data for arthritis prevalence (1-3,16). Women had almost twice as many arthritis visits as men across combined settings, which is consistent with their higher prevalence of arthritis, their perceived lower health-related quality of life and physical functioning, and their higher medical care service utilization (2,3,(17)(18)(19)(20). All races used all settings, although rates were lower for "other" races.…”

“…Ambulatory care visits were selected using the primary diagnosis and ICD-9-CM diagnostic codes for arthritis and other rheumatic conditions defined by the National Arthritis Data Workgroup (NADW; see Appendix A) (2,3). To capture visits with a primary diagnosis related to arthritis, we excluded visits with second and third listed ICD-9-CM diagnostic codes meeting the NADW arthritis definition.…”

“…Arthritis and other rheumatic conditions are a large and growing public health problem, with 43 million people affected in 1998 (1) and an estimated 60 million predicted to be affected by 2020 (2,3). These conditions comprise the leading cause of disability in the US, affecting approximately 17.5% (7.2 million) of the adult population in 1999 (4).…”

Prevalence of specific types of arthritis and other rheumatic conditions in the ambulatory health care system in the United States, 2001–2005

“…The NADW developed an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) code set that has been used to analyze and report AORC burden for adults for more than 15 years (6). Using these NADW-defined ICD-9-CM codes (Table 1), we studied data from the 2001-2005 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) (7) to estimate annual visits for AORC to ambulatory care facilities.…”

Pain as a mediator of sleep problems in arthritis and other chronic conditions

“…The size of this relationship has important clinical significance in terms of treatment strategies for patients with arthritis who experience sleep problems. Additionally, the consequences of arthritis, including sleep difficulties, are of increasing relevance to public health given the aging of the population and the increases in arthritis prevalence that have been projected (29,30).…”