2019 Arthritis by the Numbers - Did You Know?

It’s a fact that more than 54 million Americans have some form of doctor-diagnosed arthritis. But it’s estimated that almost twice that number may suffer from the disease – when you include those who have symptoms consistent with arthritis but haven’t been diagnosed.

We are proud to present the third annual edition of Arthritis by the Numbers !

2017 : We started publishing Arthritis by the Numbers in March three years ago as part of the 2017 Advocacy Summit. That year, we collected over 200 facts about eight of the more than 100 forms of arthritis and rheumatic diseases. Additionally, the advocacy team contributed over 50 pages of individual state facts in the appendix.

Did you know?

• Doctor-diagnosed arthritis affects about 1 in 4 adults.


• About 1 in 3 military veterans in the U.S. lives with arthritis.


• Gender, ethnicity, education, income level, social support and body mass can affect the chances of developing different types of arthritis – and its severity.

2018 : In the second edition, we included more than 300 new and updated facts about 12 of the most common forms of arthritis and rheumatic diseases. We featured facts about two additional juvenile arthritis forms and two new adult arthritis sections. Patient reviewers also added their voices. Our state facts pages moved to the advocacy section.

Did you know?

• 2017 estimates showed that as many as 92 million Americans may have arthritis (37 percent), including a third of those ages 18-64.


• Thanks to arthritis patients, we incorporated more information on quality of life, functional status, mental health and fatigue.


• Fatigue is related to physical inactivity, poor sleep, depression, anxiety, cognitive dysfunction (like brain fog), obesity and developing comorbidities.

2019 : Our newest edition includes about 200 new and updated facts about 15 of the most common forms of arthritis. We’ve added two new sections of juvenile arthritis facts and one new section of adult facts. Arthritis patients continue to inform us, with some of our patient reviewers sharing their experiences about how these facts touch their lives. We’ve also included a short Arthritis Foundation research history in Appendix 2.

Did you know?

• More children have some form of juvenile arthritis than those who face cystic fibrosis, juvenile diabetes and leukemia, combined.


• Though there are an estimated 54 million Americans with doctor-diagnosed arthritis, many patients have more than one form:
  
  
  
  • About 44 million adults have osteoporosis.
  
  
  • Almost 31 million adults have osteoarthritis.
  
  
  • Nearly 10 million adults have one or more of the autoimmune forms of arthritis listed in this edition.
  
  
  • About 10 million adults have fibromyalgia.
  
  
  • About 8 million adults have gout.
  
  
  
  


• Arthritis is the most common chronic condition among regular users of opioids in the U.S.

Know all about arthritis. Get the facts and check out the new 2019 Arthritis by the Numbers !