Is Arthritis Becoming More Common?

Arthritis is the most common chronic disease affecting joints
and is also the most common cause of disability in the United
States. Many forms of arthritis are also life-threatening. While
it has been tempting to speculate that arthritis will become
more common as the Baby Boom generation continues to age, there
has been a relative lack of hard data to support that notion.

The National Arthritis Data Workgroup is a consortium of
epidemiologic experts who have collected and analyzed
information from various sources to provide an assessment of the
state of arthritis now and the potential implications for the
future.

Key findings of the group were published recently (Helmick CG,
Felson DT, Lawrence RC, Gabriel S, Hirsch R, Kwoh CK, Liang MH,
Kremers HM, Mayes MD, Merkel PA, Pillemer SR, Reveille JD, Stone
JH, Arnold LM, Choi H, Deyo RA, Hochberg MC, Hunder GG, Jordan
JM, Katz JN, and Wolfe F. Arthritis & Rheumatism. 2008; 58:1)

Among the findings include:

Twenty-one percent of U.S. adults (more than 46 million people)
have arthritis or related conditions. Approximately, two-thirds
of arthritis patients are younger than 65. More than 60 percent
are female. Disease rates are similar for whites and
African-Americans and both have arthritis rates that are higher
than the rates for Hispanics.

By 2030, the number of people with arthritis is projected to
increase to nearly 67 million--an increase of 40 percent.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis. It is
a degenerative condition where the cartilage, the gristly that
covers the ends of long bones begins to prematurely wear away.
OA occurs most commonly in weight-bearing joints such as the
neck, low back, hips, and knees. It may also affect the hands,
most commonly the base of the thumbs, as well as the base of the
great toe. Nearly 27 million Americans suffer from
osteoarthritis, an increase from the 21 million found in 1990.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is another common type of arthritis.
It is a chronic, systemic, progressive, autoimmune disease that
affects 1.3 million adults. This last figure was a surprise
because the 1990 estimate was 2.1 million. The reasons for this
decline include the use of more-restrictive classification
criteria as well as what appears to be a real drop in
prevalence.

Trends also indicate that the average age of diagnosis has
increased steadily over time, showing that RA is becoming a
disease of older adults.

Gout is a chronic inflammatory form of arthritis that is due to
deposits of uric acid within joints that induce inflammation.
Gout also adversely affects kidney function. This disease,
according to this recent study, afflicts 3 million Americans.
This number is up from the estimate of 2.1 million in 1990. Gout
is more common in older men. It appears to affect African
American males more than whites or Hispanics.

The spokesperson for the Task Force, Dr. Charles G. Helmick,
acknowledged the difficulty with providing meaningful
statistical estimates. He reminded readers that some forms of
arthritis are episodic and others have no standard case
definition.

Also, estimates for some arthritic conditions rely on older
studies with results that are not necessarily applicable to the
current U.S. population.

Recognizing these shortcomings, the study still calls attention
to the high prevalence of arthritis and the growing burden on
the health care system and on society in general.

While the incidence of arthritis is increasing, research
efforts aimed at finding newer, more effective treatments will
hopefully keep up pace so that the profound physical and
societal impact of arthritis is lessened.

About The Author: Nathan Wei, MD FACP FACR is a rheumatologist
and Director of the Arthritis and Osteoporosis Center of
Maryland. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at
the University of Maryland School of Medicine. For more info:
http://www.arthritis-treatment-and-relief.com/arthritis-treatment.html