Summary
Arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions are large contributors to illness, pain and disability in Australia. Highly prevalent, they place a significant burden on the community, both economic and personal, including the use of hospital and primary care services, disruptions to daily life, and lost productivity through disability.
More than 6.1 million Australians are reported to have arthritis or a musculoskeletal condition. Most commonly reported conditions are back pain and various forms of arthritis. Almost 1.2 million Australians are reported to have disability associated with arthritis and related disorders. Activity limitation is reported for a range of tasks. Mobility limitation is one of the major features of arthritis associated disability.
In view of this large disease burden—the number of people affected and the high disability impact—arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions were declared a National Health Priority Area (NHPA) in July 2002. The initial focus of this initiative is on osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis.
A National Action Plan (NAP) has been developed by the National Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Conditions Advisory Group (NAMSCAG) to reduce the burden of disease and disability associated with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis, and to improve the health-related quality of life.
This report has been developed to generate baseline information in accordance with the National Action Plan. The rather incomplete picture of the state of arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions given in this report largely reflects the limitations and quality of the available data.
Preliminary material: List of tables; List of figures; Preface; Acknowledgments
Executive summary
1. Introduction A National Health Priority Area
- Bone and Joint Decade Focus areas
- National Action Plan
- Statement of the problem
- Aims and organisation of the report
- References
2. Burden of arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions
- Illness, discomfort and pain
- Disease severity and disability
- Health care/service use
- Mortality
- Inequalities
- References
3. Osteoarthritis
- Nature of the problem
- Risk factors and causal mechanisms
- Prevalence and incidence
- Disease severity and disability Prevention and management
- References
4. Rheumatoid arthritis
- Nature of the problem
- Causal and risk factors
- Incidence and prevalence
- Disability and psychosocial impact
- Treatment and health service use
- Mortality
- References
5. Osteoporosis
- Nature of the problem
- Risk factors and markers
- Incidence and prevalence
- Impairments and activity limitations
- Current service use
- Mortality
- References
6. Impact on functioning and quality of life
- Impairments
- Independent living
- Work disability
- Social participation
- Informal care
- Health-related quality of life
- Self-reported health status
- Co-morbidity and disability
- References
7. Health expenditure
- Allocation of expenditure
- Expenditure by health care sector
- Trends over time
- Expenditure by age and sex
- Expenditure by type of arthritis or musculoskeletal condition
- Variation in health expenditure between focus areas
- Comparisons with other National Health Priority Areas
- References
8. Surveillance and monitoring Surveillance and monitoring issues
- A theoretical framework
- Data classification
- A national surveillance and monitoring system
- Current data sources
- Data gaps and deficiencies
- References