Updated estimates suggest a much higher prevalence of arthritis in US adults than previous ones

摘要

ObjectiveNational estimates of arthritis prevalence relies on a single survey question about doctor-diagnosed arthritis without using survey information on joint symptoms, even though some subjects with only the latter have been shown to have arthritis. The sensitivity of the current surveillance definition is only 53% and 69% in subjects 45–64 and ≥65 years of age, respectively, resulting in misclassification of nearly half and one-third of subjects in those age groups. We aimed to estimate arthritis prevalence based on an expansive surveillance definition, that is also adjusted for the measurement errors in the current definition.