Arthritis: The Nation’s Leading Cause of Disability

	See Also: • Arthritis At A Glance 2004 • Prevention Effectiveness • Arthritis Web Site

Arthritis or chronic joint symptoms affect nearly 70 million Americans (about 1 in 3 adults), making it one of the most prevalent diseases in the United States.

• Arthritis is the leading cause of disability among U.S. adults. It limits everyday activities for more than 7 million Americans.
• By 2020, an estimated 12 million Americans will be limited in daily activities because of arthritis.
• Arthritis is not just an old person’s disease: nearly two-thirds of  people with arthritis are younger than 65 years. 

Costs

• Each year, arthritis results in 44 million outpatient visits, 750,000 hospitalizations, estimated medical care costs of more than $22 billion, and estimated total costs (medical care and lost productivity) of $82 billion.

CDC Goal

To improve the quality of life, increase early diagnosis and appropriate self-management, and improve self-management attitudes and behaviors among people with arthritis.

 
Examples of CDC Activities

CDC developed the National Arthritis Action Plan in partnership with the Arthritis Foundation and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. The plan proposes a national coordinated effort to reduce the occurrence of arthritis and its accompanying disability. 

In FY 2001, CDC funded arthritis programs in 29 states with the following objectives:

• To develop capacity in state health departments to improve the quality of life of people with arthritis.
• To facilitate prevention and control as called for in the National Arthritis Action Plan.
• CDC and its state partners are working to broaden dissemination of the Arthritis Self-Help Course to build self-management into routine arthritis care and to encourage appropriate physical activity programs for people with arthritis.
• Congress allocated about $11.8 million to CDC in FY 2001 for arthritis control programs. CDC provided grants to state health departments to develop or enhance state-based programs that will decrease the burden of arthritis and improve the quality of life among people with arthritis.
• CDC gives eight state health departments core funding for arthritis control activities and provides limited support to other state health departments for their public health activities related to arthritis.
• CDC conducts arthritis surveillance in all 50 states. 

Program Effectiveness

For every $1 spent on the Arthritis Self-Help Program, $3.42 was saved in physician visits and hospital costs.

Examples of State Activities

California and Florida: The Arthritis Self-Help Course, developed at Stanford University, teaches people how to manage their arthritis and minimize its effects. This course reduces arthritis pain by 20% and physician visits by 40%. However, in 1997, it reached less than 1% of people with arthritis. 

Among Hispanics, arthritis is the second most common chronic condition and the second leading cause of activity limitation. In California, which has the largest Hispanic population in the United States, the California State Health Department is working with the Southern California Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation to provide a Spanish-language version of the Arthritis Self-Help Course.

With CDC support, the Florida Department of Health’s Arthritis Prevention and Education Program is working to implement the Spanish version of the Arthritis Self-Help Course and has conducted a needs assessment of Hispanic people with arthritis, trained eight Spanish-speaking instructors, held and scheduled courses, and made plans to evaluate participants’ satisfaction with benefits from the course. 

Georgia: The Georgia Division of Public Health is piloting a physical activity program for people with arthritis in Georgia’s West Central Health District. Three counties, representing urban, small town, and rural populations, are participating. Community leaders (including representatives from the Division of Public Health, Arthritis Foundation, and Area Agency on Aging) oversee this program. People with arthritis participate in 10 weeks of physical activity such as walking, gardening, swimming, or ballroom dancing. This program will provide information on implementing community-based physical activity interventions and could lead to increased physical activity and reduced activity limitations among Georgia residents and others. 

 
Related Information

One or more documents on this Web page is available in Portable Document Format (PDF). You will need Acrobat Reader (a free application) to view and print these documents.

• The Burden of Chronic Diseases and Their Risk Factors: National and State Perspectives
• Exemplary State Programs — Arthritis (129K–PDF)

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This page last reviewed August 10, 2004

United States Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion