Background/Purpose: Arthritis is the number 1 cause of disability among U.S. adults and reported to cost > $300 billion in direct and indirect costs in 2013. Theis et al. found that the prevalence of arthritis in the US grew from 54.4 million in 2013-2015 to 58.5 million in 2016-2018. These estimates were derived from the U.S. CDC National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which has recently undergone a total redesign. With the updated NHIS, we aimed to query an updated nationally-representative estimate of the prevalence and burden of arthritis in the U.S. adult population.

Methods: We identified patients over the age of 18 years in the 2019 and 2021 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) who had doctor-diagnosed arthritis (n=15,822; 21.3%; excluded 2020 due to unclear impact of COVID-19 on NHIS completion). Sampling weights were used to create nationally representative estimates. Unadjusted and age-standardized estimates of arthritis prevalence were generated. Sociodemographic and health characteristics were analyzed. We compared with previous years’ prevalence estimates.

Results: During 2019 and 2021, an estimated 53.7 million people over the age of 18 had arthritis (21.3%; 18.8% age-standardized; Table 1). This represents a 5 million person decrease from 2016-2018 (58.5 million; Figure 1), but is similar to the estimates from 2013-2015 (54.4 million; Figure 1). Arthritis prevalence was greater than 50% in adults with ≥3 ADL limitations (65.2%; Table 1) and adults with 2 IADL limitations (50.2%; Table 1). Arthritis was most prevalent in adults aged ≥65 years (47.6%), non-Hispanic whites (24.9%), adults unable to work or disabled (49.5), and adults who reported fair or poor health (48.9%)

Conclusion: Arthritis has significant impact on disability and functional limitation in US adults. Surprisingly, we found stabilization of arthritis prevalence in the U.S. from the 2019 and 2021 national estimates rather than an anticipated increase. Stratified analyses by age, sex, and other demographic characteristics need to be performed to understand as to which subgroup accounts for this recent stabilization/decrease in arthritis prevalence.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/prevalence-of-arthritis-in-the-united-states-national-estimates-from-a-population-based-study/