Get to know arthritis by the numbers. You’ll be surprised. Arthritis is all around us, yet its impact on people, employers and the country is far greater, more serious and costly than most people realize.

Lifetime risk of symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA):
Nearly 1 in 2 people may develop symptomatic knee OA by age 85 years.
Two in three people who are obese may develop symptomatic knee OA in their lifetime.
One in 4 people may develop painful hip arthritis by age 85 years.

Prevalence of Arthritis:
From 2010- 2012, an estimated 52.5 million US adults (22.7%) annually were ever told by a doctor that they have some form of arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, lupus, or fibromyalgia.
An estimated 49.7% of adults 65 years or older reported doctor-diagnosed arthritis from 2010-2012.
An estimated 62% of adults with arthritis are <65 years old.
By 2040, an estimated 78 million US adults ages 18 years or older are projected to have doctor-diagnosed arthritis.
An estimated 294,000 children under age 18 have some form of arthritis or rheumatic condition; this represents approximately 1 in every 250 children in the United States.
Prevalence of Specific Types of Arthritis:
The most common form of arthritis is osteoarthritis. Other common rheumatic conditions include gout, fibromyalgia, and rheumatoid arthritis.
An estimated 30.8 million adults had osteoarthritis from 2008 to 2011.
An estimated 1.5 million adults had rheumatoid arthritis in 2007.
The annual prevalence of ever having doctor-diagnosed gout among US adults in 2007–2008 was 3.9% (8.3 million individuals) using nationally representative data (NHANES) from 2007–2008.
The prevalence of gout among men was 5.9% (6.1 million), and the prevalence among women was 2.0% (2.2 million).
An estimated 5.0 million adults had fibromyalgia in 2005.
References: http://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/data_statistics/arth...