Background/Purpose: While chronic joint symptoms are characteristic of arthritis, previous studies have shown that many people with chronic joint symptoms do not have doctor-diagnosed arthritis. These people are typically younger, more often male, and report less limitation than those with doctor-diagnosed arthritis. However, differences between the two groups have not been evaluated for the socially and economically important domain of work.

Methods: Data were obtained from ACHES, a random-digit dialed national telephone survey, conducted in 2005-06, of non-institutionalized US adults ages ≥45. We restricted analyses to 45-64 years (working ages). Respondents were classified as ARTH (‘yes’ to Have you ever been told by a doctor or other health professional that you have some form of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, lupus, or fibromyalgia?) (n=1,006) OR CJS (joint symptoms in the past 30 days that began >3 months prior but no ARTH) (n=352). Impact on work for pay was measured by ‘yes’ to: 1) do arthritis or joint symptoms “now affect whether you work for pay or not,” 2)”the type of work,” or 3)”the amount of work” you do? Only those employed were asked type and amount. We estimated prevalence of each impact for ARTH and CJS separately and compared characteristics using weighted proportions with 95% confidence intervals (CI). All reported proportions represent statistically significant differences based on non-overlapping CIs.

Results: Overall, CJS were younger, employed more (68% vs 54%), disabled less (11% vs 22%), and had less reports of losing ≥1 workday (5% vs 13%) or activity limitations due to symptoms (33% vs 55%) compared with ARTH. Fair/poor health (19% vs 33%), severe joint pain (13% vs 31%), and daily pain (42% vs 59%) were less common among CJS vs ARTH.

Impact on whether one works and type of work were both higher for ARTH vs CJS (36% vs 20% and 43% vs 30%, respectively). Impact on amount of work was not significantly different between groups. Among ARTH greater proportions of females (35% vs 16%), those with some college education (37% vs 18%), and the obese (41% vs 23%) reported impact on whether one works than CJS counterparts. Also among ARTH greater proportions with no activity limitations (55% vs 40%), no depression (26% vs 13%), no anxiety (21% vs 11%), no severe joint pain (23% vs 14%), and no bathing/dressing limitations (20% vs 9%) reported impact on whether one works compared with CJS.

Conclusion: Work impacts are high among both ARTH and CJS, despite different group patterns. ARTH work impacts are common even without severe joint pain or physical limitations. Given the economic importance of work, interventions for both groups are warranted, but ARTH identifies a priority population.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/impacts-on-work-arthritis-vs-chronic-joint-symptoms-without-arthritis/