Almost 30 million adults in the United States have diagnosed osteoarthritis (OA) in one or more joints. With another 1.3 million affected by rheumatoid arthritis that makes arthritis the second most common musculoskeletal disease in America.
It’s actually a little more complex than that. There are more than 100 diseases that fall under the category of arthritis and other related conditions or AORC. Besides osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, there are conditions such as gout, lupus, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and many others.
All added together, one-fifth of the adult population in the United States has some form of arthritis. That’s almost 50 million people. And it’s not just older adults who are affected. Two-thirds of these individuals are under the age of 65. Men and women are both affected, although women tend to be the larger group of patients diagnosed with arthritis of some type.
Why does it matter if so many people are affected by this group of diseases? From the affected person’s point-of-view: it can be a painful and disabling condition. There is treatment with medications, physical therapy, and joint replacement. That means with more people affected each year, more procedures and more medical costs are mounting up.
In one year alone, over 281 billion dollars is spent on the medical care of arthritis and joint pain. That price has doubled in the last 10 years and is expected to continue to increase in the next 10 years. Hospital costs for joint replacements alone totaled 30 billion dollars in 2004. And those figures don’t include the indirect costs to the patient such as lost wages.
So who’s keeping track of all these expenses and how will this information help us? First a little bit about the who. There is a large group of orthopedic surgeons and other medical doctors who have banded together to focus on the burden of musculoskeletal diseases in the United States. They are collecting data on the prevalence of arthritis and other related conditions. Prevalence refers to how many people on any given day have this disease. They are also looking at the societal and economic cost of this group of diseases.
This research is a joint project of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the American College of Rheumatology, the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, the Arthritis Foundation, the National University of Health Sciences, the Orthopaedic Research Society, the Scoliosis Research Society, and the U.S. Bone and Joint Decade.
So you can see, it has grabbed the attention of thousands of doctors across multiple disciplines. Readers can find out more about their work on this project available on-line at www.boneandjointburden.org. And as for the what of how this information will help us — in the immediate period, there is a need to improve joint implants for joint replacements. The goal is to produce better designs that last longer for an active, aging group of adults.
Backing up a bit, there is a need to prevent these problems from developing in the first place. Testing and research efforts centered on prevention are looking for risk factors that could be modified to prevent or delay the onset of any of these arthritic conditions.
There is also a focus on the development of safe and effective medications as the first-line of treatment. Early diagnosis and treatment may be able to prevent damage to the joints and hold off the need for surgery.
More and more, efforts are being directed toward patient education. Reducing the burden of arthritis requires a better understanding of the disease and its natural course. This knowledge may help people manage their own condition. Weight loss, physical activity, and exercise are extremely important for everyone with musculoskeletal disorders but especially those who suffer from any joint problems such as arthritis.