General nfo that might be of interest to ANRG Investors:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Arthritis is set to explode in an aging
population of U.S. baby boomers and will afflict one in five
Americans early in the next century, according to a report released
Tuesday.
Arthritis has already become the leading cause of disability in the
United States, more than diabetes, stroke or any other disease, the
report said.
"As the leading edge of the baby boom generation enters the prime
years for arthritis, a quantum leap will take place as the number of
people affected surges and the impact on individual and the nation's
health grows dramatically," the Arthritis Foundation said in a
statement.
An estimated 40 million Americans have arthritis, with numbers
expected to grow to 59.4 million -- to more than 18 percent of the
population from around 16 percent now -- by the year 2020, according
to the report.
The report, by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Arthritis Foundation and
the American College of Rheumatology, was published in the journal
Arthritis and Rheumatism.
It said arthritis is second only to heart disease as a cause of work
disability, and results in 39 million doctor visits and more than
500,000 hospitalizations, mostly for joint replacements, every year.
"As one who has suffered from arthritis for many years, I can tell
you that arthritis is not a disease of minor aches and pains," Debra
Lappin, chairwoman of the Arthritis Foundation, told a news
conference.
More than 100 different diseases affect the joints and are called
arthritis. Most of the cases by far, 20.7 million, are diagnosed as
osteoarthritis -- the familiar form that causes painful joint
stiffness and twisting.
About 3.7 million Americans, mostly women, suffer from fibromyalgia,
which causes widespread pain in the muscles where they attach to the
bone.
About one percent of the population has rheumatoid arthritis, a
disease marked by swelling and inflammation of the joints. Doctors
now say it is an autoimmune disease -- one caused by the immune
system mistakenly attacking the body.
The report estimates that more than two million people have gout,
which is caused by a build-up of needle-like crystals of uric acid in
the body that can cause joint pain.
The family of arthritis diseases also includes polymyalgia
rheumatica, which causes muscle pain and stiffness in 450,000
Americans, spondylarthropathies, which include ankylosing spondylitis
or spinal arthritis and affect up to 400,000 people, and lupus,
another autoimmune disease that affects 239,000 Americans, mostly
women.
The report had good news, too, noting advances in diagnosis and
treatment for the diseases on the horizon.
"Some forms of arthritis may be cured and we may be able to prevent
other forms of arthritis," Dr. David Fox, who chairs the Arthritis
Foundation's medical committee, said.
"Osteoarthritis should no longer be thought of as a consequence of
aging, but as a dynamic ... process that we now can control," Fox
told the news conference.
But many patients are not getting the right care. The foundation's
Dr. Doyt Conn said many managed care organizations were not paying
for physical therapy, specialized treatments and other options.
"These people need to know about their disease," he said -- yet
education materials or programs were not covered.
He said there would be benefits to the managed care organization if
they did cover such things, including lower costs. |
