Burden of Osteoarthritis Increasing in Most Countries

WEDNESDAY, May 13, 2020 (HealthDay News) — The burden of osteoarthritis (OA) is increasing in most countries, according to a study published online May 12 in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.

Saeid Safiri, Ph.D., from the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Iran, and colleagues reported the levels and trends of prevalence, incidence, and years lived with disability (YLD) for OA in 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017 using publicly available modeled data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017.

The researchers found that in 2017, the age-standardized point prevalence and annual incidence rate of OA were 3,754.2 and 181.2 per 100,000, globally, representing an increase of 9.3 and 8.2 percent, respectively, from 1990. In 2017, the global age-standardized YLD rate was 118.8, representing a 9.6 percent increase from 1990. Global prevalence was higher among women and increased with age; in both women and men, the peak was seen in those aged >95 years. At regional and national levels, there was generally a positive association between age-standardized YLD rate and sociodemographic index. In 2017, the age-standardized prevalence of OA varied from 2,090.3 to 6,128.1 cases per 100,000 population.

“Attempts to mitigate the future burden of OA require better awareness, especially of the risk factors, and early diagnosis and treatment of OA together with the improvement of health care infrastructure for managing the increasing number of patients with OA,” the authors write.

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