Arthritis Statistics

Check out some arthritis related statistics below.

Prevalence of Arthritis

• An estimated 46 million adults in the United States reported being told by a doctor that they have some form of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout or lupus
• One in five (over 21%) adults in the United States report having doctor diagnosed arthritis.
• In 2003–2005, 50% of adults 65 years and over reported an arthritis diagnosis.

Revalence of Specific Types of Arthritis

The most common form of arthritis is osteoarthritis.

• An estimated 21 million adults have osteoarthritis.
• An estimated 2.1 million adults are affected by rheumatoid arthritis
• An estimated 5.1 million adults report having a doctor diagnosis of gout.

Prevalence of Arthritis by Age/Race/Gender

• Of persons aged 18–44, 7.9% (8.7 million) report doctor-diagnosed arthritis. Of persons aged 45–64, 29.3% (20.5 million) report doctor-diagnosed arthritis. Of persons aged 65+, 50.0% (17.2 million) report doctor-diagnosed arthritis.
• 28.3 million women and 18.1 million men report doctor-diagnosed arthritis.

Overweight/Obesity and Arthritis (adult aged ≥18)

• 16% of under/normal weight adults report doctor-diagnosed arthritis.
• 21.7% of overweight and 30.6% among obese Americans report doctor-diagnosed arthritis.
• 66% of adults with doctor-diagnosed arthritis are overweight or obese (compared with 53% of adults without doctor-diagnosed arthritis).
• Weight loss of as little as 11 pounds reduces the risk of developing knee osteoarthritis among women by 50%.

Arthritis-Related Mortality

• From 1979-1998, the annual number of arthritis and other related rheumatic conditions (AORC) deaths rose from 5,537 to 9,367.
• Three categories of AORC account for almost 80% of deaths: diffuse connective tissue diseases (34%), other specified rheumatic conditions (23%), and rheumatoid arthritis (22%).
• In 1979, the crude death rate from AORC was 2.46 per 100,000 population. In 1998, it was 3.48 per 100,000 population; rates age-standardized to the year 2000 population were 2.75 and 3.51, respectively