State prevalence of self-reported doctor-diagnosed arthritis and arthritis-attributable activity limitation--United States, 2003.

Arthritis is costly (86 billion dollars annually), highly prevalent (affecting 43 million U.S. adults), the leading cause of disability, and associated with substantial disparities in pain, activity limitations, and compromised quality of life. State-based estimates of arthritis prevalence and impact help define the burden of arthritis and provide state arthritis programs with data for program planning. This report summarizes results from the 2003 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey on state-specific prevalence of self-reported doctor-diagnosed arthritis and arthritis-attributable activity limitation in 50 states, the District of Columbia (DC), and three territories. The findings indicated that the prevalence of adults with self-reported doctor-diagnosed arthritis ranged from 17.9% to 37.2% (state median: 27.0%) and with arthritis-attributable activity limitation ranged from 6.3% to 16.7% (state median: 9.9%); the proportion of adults with arthritis-attributable activity limitation among those with self-reported doctor-diagnosed arthritis ranged from 30.1% to 49.8% (state median: 37.4%). These high rates of arthritis prevalence and activity limitation are projected to increase with the aging of the population, requiring increased intervention measures to reduce this impact.