Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in the United States adult population in healthcare claims databases, 2004–2014

  • Epidemiology of RMD
  • Published:
Rheumatology International Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in the United States (US) adult insured population from 2004 to 2014. This was an observational, retrospective, cross-sectional study based on US administrative health insurance claims databases (Truven Health MarketScan® Research database and IMS PharMetrics Plus database). Trends in RA prevalence focusing on the 10-year period covering January 1, 2004–December 31, 2014 were analyzed using a validated algorithm for the identification of RA. Prevalence rates in the databases were determined and age- and gender-adjusted rates were projected to the US population in 2014. Analysis of data from the two databases indicated that the RA prevalence rate in commercially insured adult US population ranged from 0.41 to 0.54% from 2004 to 2014. The prevalence varied substantially by gender and age in each year and increased gradually across the years for most subgroups. In 2014, out of 31,316,902 adult patients with continuous enrollment in the Truven Health MarketScan® Research database, 157,634 (0.50%) patients met our criteria for RA. Similarly, out of 35,083,356 adult patients in the IMS PharMetrics Plus database, 139,300 (0.50%) patients met our criteria for RA. In 2014, the overall age-adjusted prevalence of RA ranged from 0.53 to 0.55% (0.29–0.31% for males and 0.73–0.78% for females). The prevalence of RA in the US appeared to increase during the period from 2004 to 2014, affecting a conservative estimate of 1.28–1.36 million adults in 2014.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Source: Truven Health MarketScan® Research Database

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Alamanos Y, Drosos AA (2005) Epidemiology of adult rheumatoid arthritis. Autoimmun Rev 4:130–136

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Riise T, Jacobsen BK, Gran JT (2001) Incidence and prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in the county of Troms, northern Norway. J Rheumatol 27:1386–1389

    Google Scholar 

  3. Simonsson M, Bergman S, Jacobsson LT et al (1999) The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in Sweden. Scand J Rheumatol 28:340–343

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Symmons D, Turner G, Webb R et al (2002) The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in the UK: new estimates for a new century. Rheumatology (Oxford) 41:793–800

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Power D, Codd M, Ivers L et al (1999) Prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in Dublin, Ireland: a population based survey. Ir J Med Sci 168:197–200

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Aho K, Kaipiainen-Seppänen O, Heliövaara M et al (1998) Epidemiology of rheumatoid arthritis in Finland. Semin Arthritis Rheum 27:325–334

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Gabriel SE, Crowson CS, O’Fallon WM (1999) The epidemiology of rheumatoid arthritis in Rochester, Minnesota, 1955–1985. Arthritis Rheum 42:415–420

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Simons WR, Rosenblatt LC, Trivedi DN (2012) The economic consequences of rheumatoid arthritis: analysis of Medical Expenditure Panel Survey 2004, 2005, and 2006 Data. J Occup Environ Med 54:48–55

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Helmick CG, Felson DT, Lawrence RC et al (2008) Estimates of the prevalence of arthritis and other rheumatic condition in the US. Arthritis Rheum 58:15–25

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Sacks JJ, Luo YH, Helmick CG (2010) Prevalence of specific types of arthritis and other rheumatic conditions in the ambulatory health care system in the US, 2001–2005. Arthritis Care Res 62:460–464

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Widdifield J, Labrecque J, Lix L et al (2013) Systematic review and critical appraisal of validation studies to identify rheumatic diseases in health administrative databases. Arthritis Care Res 65:1490–1503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Kim SY, Servi A, Polinski JM et al (2011) Validation of rheumatoid arthritis diagnoses in health care utilization data. Arthritis Res Ther 13:R32

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Hanly JG, Thompson K, Skedgel C (2015) The use of administrative health care databases to identify patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatol Res Rev 7:69–75

    Google Scholar 

  14. MacLean C, Louie R, Leake B et al (2000) Quality of care for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. JAMA 284:984–992

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Kim SY, Servi A, Polinski JM et al (2011) Validation of rheumatoid arthritis diagnoses in health care utilization data. Arthritis Res Ther 13(1):R32

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Lacaille D, Anis AH, Guh DP et al (2005) Gaps in care for rheumatoid arthritis: a population study. Arthritis Rheum 53(2):241–248

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Shipton D, Glazier RH, Guan J et al (2004) Effects of specialty services on disease-modifying antirhematic drug use in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in an insured elderly population. Med Care 42(9):907–913

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Widdifield J, Bombardier C, Bernatsky S et al (2014) An administrative data validation study of the accuracy of algorithms for identifying rheumatoid arthritis: the influence of the reference standard on algorithm performance. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 15:216

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Myasoedova E, Crowson CS, Kremers HM et al (2010) Is the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis rising? Results from Olmsted County, Minnesota: 1955–2007. Arthritis Rheum 62:1576–1582

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Sokka T, Kautianinen H, Pincus T et al (2010) Work disability remains a major problem in rheumatoid arthritis in the 2000s: data from 32 countries in the QUEST-RA study. Arthritis Res Ther 12:R42

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Allaire S, Wolfe F, Niu J et al (2008) Contemporary prevalence and incidence of work disability associated with rheumatoid arthritis in the US. Arthritis Rheum 59:474–480

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Global Patient Outcomes and Real World Evidence, Eli Lilly and Company, Lilly Technology Center South, 1555 South Harding Street, Indianapolis, IN, 46221, USA

    Theresa M. Hunter, Natalie N. Boytsov, Xiang Zhang, Krista Schroeder & Andre B. Araujo

  2. Division of Rheumatology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA

    Kaleb Michaud

Authors
  1. Theresa M. Hunter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Natalie N. Boytsov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xiang Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Krista Schroeder
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Kaleb Michaud
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Andre B. Araujo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Theresa M. Hunter.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Ethical approval

The study has been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and later amendments.

Human or animal participants

This study was a retrospective analysis of administrative claims data and does not contain any human participants or animals.

Informed consent

The permission from a research ethics committee was not required and formal informed consent was not obtained.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 38 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hunter, T.M., Boytsov, N.N., Zhang, X. et al. Prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in the United States adult population in healthcare claims databases, 2004–2014. Rheumatol Int 37, 1551–1557 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-017-3726-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-017-3726-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation