Impact

Arthritis and Pain

• The proportion of Canadians with arthritis who report experiencing moderate to severe pain is 3 times higher than the proportion of Canadians with other chronic conditions. i
• 45.6% of adult Canadians with arthritis report usually experiencing pain, as compared to 11.7% of adult Canadians without arthritis.ii
• Pain and activity limitations are the primary causes for the decline of self-rated health among people with arthritis.iii

Arthritis and Sleep

• One quarter of Canadians with arthritis aged 18 years and older report “difficulty sleeping most of the time.” This is more than double the proportion in Canadians without arthritis.iv
• 12% of Canadians with arthritis aged 18 years and older report unrefreshing sleep. This is more than double the proportion in Canadians without arthritis.v

Arthritis Mortality

• In 1998, arthritis and related conditions were reported as the underlying cause for 2.2 deaths in every 100,000, making arthritis a more common underlying cause of death for Canadians than melanoma, asthma or HIV/AIDS, especially among women. vi
• Mortality rates attributed to arthritis are higher in Canadian women than men for every age group, with 4 female deaths for every 3 male deaths.vii
• The mortality burden of arthritis and related conditions has been underestimated, because contributing causes of death (such as complications of arthritis treatment) are not available. People with arthritis are the most frequent users of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which can cause gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. GI bleeding was responsible for 1,322 deaths in 1998.viii
• Eliminating arthritis would achieve an overall gain in the health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) of 1.5 years for each female and nearly 1 year for each male in the Canadian population, with an overall increase in life expectancy of 0.16 years for males and 0.35 years for females.ix

Arthritis Projections: 2006-2021

Due to the aging of the population and the increases in prevalence of arthritis within specific age groups, it is expected that the prevalence of arthritis in Canada will continue to increase in the coming years. By 2021, it is anticipated the prevalence of arthritis in Canada among those aged 15+ years will have increased to between 21% and 26%, from the current 17% in 2005. Overall, the prevalence increased from 13.4% to 17.6% from 1994 to 2003 in this age group, an increase of nearly 50% in the number of Canadians reporting arthritis.x

Burden of Arthritis

• Arthritis and related conditions affected more than 4.4 million Canadians aged 15 years and older (1 in 6 people) in the year 2005, according to the 2004/05 Canadian Community Health Survey.

  Self-reported prevalence and number of individuals with arthritis/rheumatism, by age and sex, household population aged 15 years and older, Canada, 2005

  xi
• Two thirds of Canadians with arthritis are women.xii
• 3 out of 5 Canadians with arthritis are under 65 years of age.xiii
• Arthritis is the second most commonly reported chronic condition by Canadian women and is the third most commonly reported chronic condition by Canadian men.xiv
• 19% of all Aboriginal people living off-reserve report having arthritis. If the Aboriginal population had the same age composition as the overall Canadian population, this rate would be 27%.xv Data were not available for Aboriginals living on reserves, but other studies have found an even higher prevalence in this population.
• In 2000, residents of Nova Scotia reported arthritis and related conditions most frequently of all Canadians (23%), and residents in the Territories reported arthritis and related conditions least frequently (12%).xvi

Economic Burden of Arthritis

• In 1998, estimates placed the economic burden of arthritis to Canadian society at $4.4 billion. However, this figure likely underestimates the total costs, because data for some expenditures (such as costs related to health professionals other than physicians and to over-the-counter medications) are unavailable. In addition, the estimate uses only a subset of the arthritis conditions used elsewhere in this compendium. xvii
• In Canada, long-term disability accounted for almost 80% of the economic costs of arthritis in 1998, at nearly $3.4 billion; the 35-64 year age group incurred 70% of these costs.xviii
• The economic burden of musculoskeletal conditions in Canada accounted for 10.3% of the total economic burden of all illnesses, but only 1.3% of health science research.xix

Disability

• 12.4% of all Canadians report having a disability.xx
• Women report a slightly higher prevalence of disability in all age groups except for those under 15 years of agexxi