The Arthritis Foundation recently came out with its list of the top 10 arthritis events for the year 2007. This series will focus on those events.

#3: Projections of Increases in Doctor-Diagnosed Arthritis and Arthritis-Attributable Activity Limitation

It is estimated that 46 million adults in the U.S are afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis or other rheumatic conditions (e.g. gout, lupus, fybromyalgia). It is further estimated that nearly 67 million adults will have doctor-diagnosed arthritis by the year 2030. This includes 25 million that are expected to have limitations in their activity as a result of the arthritis.

In 2007 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed state-by-state projected increases based on state arthritis prevalence estimates. This analysis indicates an average projected increase in doctor-diagnosed arthritis of 34% from 2005 to 2030. In addition, 10 states are projected to have increases between 50% and 99% while 3 states are projected to have increases of over 100%.

Florida, with an estimated increase of 3.7 million people, is projected to have the largest increase in the absolute number of people with doctor-diagnosed arthritis. Likewise, Florida is predicted to have an increase of 1.3 million people with arthritis-attributable activity limitation. Primarily because of an expected population decline, the District of Columbia is projected to have the only decrease in the country in the numbers of adults with doctor-diagnosed arthritis and arthritis-attributable activity limitations.