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Abstract Number: 2164

Burden of Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis in the United States: Impact of Race/Ethnicity, Age and Sex

Bhushan Deshpande1, Jeffrey N. Katz2, Daniel H. Solomon2, Edward H. Yelin3 and Elena Losina2, 1Orthopaedic and Arthritis Center for Outcomes Research, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, 2Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 3University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

Meeting: ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting 2015

Date of first publication: September 29, 2015

Keywords: Osteoarthritis

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Session Information

Date: Monday, November 9, 2015

Title: ACR/ARHP Combined Abstract Session: Epidemiology and Pubic Health

Session Type: ACR/ARHP Combined Abstract Session

Session Time: 4:30PM-6:00PM

Background/Purpose : Growing evidence
suggests that the prevalence and incidence of knee OA is rising, partially due
to increasing life expectancy and the growing obesity epidemic. The most
commonly cited estimate of the burden of symptomatic knee OA in the US is 9.3
million individuals. This figure was derived using 2005 population estimates and
is based on a prevalence estimate from a large cohort study of a predominantly
white population from the 1980s. We sought to provide a contemporary estimate
of the burden of knee OA in the US, taking into consideration racial/ethnic
differences in obesity rates, age-specific population size, and mortality rates.   Methods: We used published prevalence
rates of symptomatic knee OA derived from the National Health Interview Survey
(2007-08) (NHIS), stratified by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and obesity status.
We adjusted for self-reported OA diagnosis using positive predictive values of
self-reported knee OA from the literature, and also derived the proportions of
individuals with advanced (Kellgren-Lawrence grade 3 or 4), symptomatic knee OA
using the validated Osteoarthritis Policy Model. We calculated the burden as
the number of persons diagnosed with symptomatic knee OA by combining the stratified
prevalence rates from NHIS with corresponding obesity rates from the National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2011-12) and population estimates from
the Census Bureau (2012) among adults older than 25 years.   Results: We estimated the overall
prevalence of symptomatic knee OA as 15.6 million, with advanced knee OA comprising
8.9 million of those individuals (Table). Adults under 45 years old represented
nearly 1.7 million cases of symptomatic knee OA and 0.7 million cases of advanced,
symptomatic knee OA. The proportion of symptomatic knee OA cases classified as
advanced among these younger persons was greater among males (36%–40%) than
among females (28%–35%). Among individuals between 45 and 65 years of age, nearly
7 million have symptomatic knee OA, including 2 million racial/ethnic
minorities. Prevalence was higher among females than males across all strata,
and among women over 65 years of age, one in five were estimated to have symptomatic
knee OA, with two-thirds of those having advanced disease. The prevalence of
knee OA was greater among younger Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black women
compared to non-Hispanic White women.   Conclusion: Using contemporary
national data on population size, obesity and OA prevalence, we estimated that
15.6 million persons in the US are living with symptomatic knee OA. This
estimate is 68% higher than the prior estimate of 9.3 million. The majority of
individuals with symptomatic knee OA are at an advanced stage of the disease. Policymakers
should expect healthcare utilization for knee OA, particularly total knee
replacement, to increase further in upcoming decades.


Disclosure: B. Deshpande, None; J. N. Katz, None; D. H. Solomon, Amgen, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, the Consortium of Rheumatology Researchers of North America, 2,UpToDate, 7; E. H. Yelin, None; E. Losina, None.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Deshpande B, Katz JN, Solomon DH, Yelin EH, Losina E. Burden of Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis in the United States: Impact of Race/Ethnicity, Age and Sex [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2015; 67 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/burden-of-symptomatic-knee-osteoarthritis-in-the-united-states-impact-of-raceethnicity-age-and-sex/. Accessed .
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