Arthritis Statistics

  Arthritis in Australia

• Access Economics estimates that there are 3.85 million Australians with arthritis (nearly 1 in 5 Australians), including 1.62 million with osteoarthritis (OA) and 0.51 million with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
• Overall, arthritis was more prevalent among women, with 19.9% of women estimated to have some form of arthritis in 2007 compared to 17.1% of men.
• An estimated 61.3% of people with OA and 57.1% of people with RA are women.
• 62% or 2.4 million of those with arthritis are in the working age population (15-64).
• Prevalence rates among men are broadly correlated with age, peaking at 50% for the over-85s.
• Access Economics estimates that in 2007 the allocated health system expenditure associated with arthritis is $4.2 billion - $1,100 per person with arthritis.
• In 2007, the total cost of arthritis is estimated to be $23.9 billion, of which almost half is the value of the loss of healthy life.
• Access Economics estimates that in 2007 the total cost of informal care for people with arthritis is $1.01 billion. This equates to $262 per person with arthritis in 2007.
• Obesity is an important risk factor for osteoarthritis; obese people are around 2.4 times as likely to have OA as people of normal weight, while overweight people are 35% more likely to have OA. Overweight is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 25-30 and obesity as BMI over 30. BMI is the ratio of weight in kilograms to the square of height in metres.
• If obesity continued to grow at the rates witnessed over the last ten years, by 2050, 46.6% of men and 34.8% of women would be obese.

 Arthritis – The Queensland Picture

In 2007, there were 744,447 Queenslanders with arthritis, 18.1% of the population.

• 399,001 are female, 53.6% of the arthritis population.
• 345,445 are male, 46.4% of the arthritis population.
• 461,557 are of working age (15 – 64 years), 62% of the arthritis population.

In 2007, the total cost of arthritis in Queensland was estimated as $4.53 billion

• Health system costs of arthritis in Queensland were $841.4 million,
• Other financial costs of $1.423billion, and
• Cost of suffering of $2.266 billion

By 2050 it is projected that 1,755,000 Queenslanders will have arthritis, 23.4% of the population. Which represents:

• 135.8% increase in persons, and
• 29.7% increase in prevalence

In 2007, Arthritis Queensland spent $1,256,443 providing services to Queenslanders with musculoskeletal conditions.  Queensland Health contributed $38,997, the balance $1,217,446 had to be found from the Queensland community.