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National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Arthritis Home | About Us | Contact Us |
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What Changed? In 2001 CDC estimated that 70 million adults (33%) reported arthritis or chronic joint symptoms. With input from numerous experts, CDC decided that national surveillance estimates should focus on those with doctor-diagnosed arthritis from 2002 forward. Those persons with chronic joint symptoms but without doctor-diagnosed arthritis should be labeled and counted separately as possible arthritis. Using this new labeling, in 2002 there were 43 million adults (21%) with doctor-diagnosed arthritis. See more on this case definition.
Explaining the change to partners: Focusing surveillance on persons with doctor-diagnosed arthritis allows us to target those we are more certain have arthritis or other rheumatic conditions. They are also more affected by their arthritis and thus more receptive to interventions. Additionally, this surveillance definition is more comparable with data from the health care system and that reported for other disease-specific programs (e.g., diabetes, heart disease) and easier to adapt to changes in the BRFSS survey being considered for the future.
Page last reviewed: September 9, 2008
Page last
modified: September 9, 2008
Content Source:
Division of
Adult and Community Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
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