Monitoring progress in arthritis management--United States and 25 states, 2003.

Arthritis is a chronic disease affecting an estimated 43 million (20.8%) U.S. adults and is the leading cause of disability in the United States. Arthritis results in activity and work limitations, decreased quality of life, and substantial burden to the U.S. health-care system. Promotion of arthritis self-management through weight counseling, physical activity counseling, and arthritis education can reduce pain, improve function and quality of life, and delay disability among persons with arthritis. To encourage arthritis self-management, three objectives were added to the national health objectives for 2010. To monitor progress toward achieving these objectives and assess that progress by selected characteristics, CDC analyzed data from the 2003 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the state-based 2003 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey. This report summarizes the results of those analyses, which indicated no statistically significant progress toward reaching the targets for weight counseling, physical activity counseling, and arthritis education. To meet these targets by 2010, public health and health-care agencies should increase efforts to improve awareness of these three factors among both health-care providers and patients. Such interventions will enable persons with arthritis to better self-manage their disease.