An article from the National Arthritis Data Workgroup was e-published last month ahead of print in Arthritis & Rheumatism, in which estimates are made of the prevalence of arthritis and other rheumatic conditions, including Fibromyalgia, in the United States.
The National Arthritis Data Workgroup is a consortium of experts in epidemiology organized to provide a single source of national data on the prevalence and impact of rheumatic diseases. It is supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, NIH; the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and National Center for Health Statistics, CDC; the American College of Rheumatology; and the Arthritis Foundation.
The objective of this study was to “provide a single source for the best available estimates of the US prevalence of and number of individuals affected by osteoarthritis, polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis, gout, fibromyalgia, and carpal tunnel syndrome, as well as the symptoms of neck and back pain.”
The workgroup reviewed published analyses from available national surveys, such as the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the National Health Interview Survey. Because data based on national population samples are unavailable for most specific rheumatic conditions, they derived estimates from published studies of smaller, defined populations. For specific conditions, the best available prevalence estimates were applied to the corresponding 2005 US population estimates from the Census Bureau, to estimate the number affected with each condition.
They estimated that among US adults, nearly 27 million have clinical osteoarthritis, 711,000 have polymyalgia rheumatica, 228,000 have giant cell arteritis, up to 3.0 million have had self-reported gout in the past year, 5.0 million have fibromyalgia, 4-10 million have carpal tunnel syndrome, 59 million have had low back pain in the past 3 months, and 30.1 million have had neck pain in the past 3 months.
Assuming they used an adult population of 216.3 million, that translates to a prevalence of 2.3% for Fibromyalgia, which is consistent with other estimates, although slightly on the low side.
The workgroup concluded that:
“This report provides the best available prevalence estimates for the US, but for most specific conditions more studies generalizable to the US or addressing understudied populations are needed.”
