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World Arthritis Day 2024: Awareness About Rheumatic Disease

Oct 11 , 2024 | 1 min read

Every year, World Arthritis Day (WAD) is celebrated on October 12th to increase awareness about rheumatic disease. It was first started by Arthritis and Rheumatism International in 1996.

There are more than 100 types of different arthritis that have been described. Recent COPCORD studies conducted at various places in India have shown that rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases are prevalent in 25–30% of the Indian population and cause significant disabilities. Although inflammatory arthritis is less than 1–3% among them, the burden of disease is significant. Despite the high prevalence of these diseases in the population, awareness about the disease is very low in the general population. Due to this, people are not able to reach the rheumatology specialist during the initial presentation of the disease, and there is a diagnostic delay of several years. Patients often miss the therapeutic window of 3 months to prevent joint damage.

People often think inflammatory arthritis like rheumatoid arthritis, and SLE are just affecting joints and sometimes do not take it seriously. However, the fact is that these are systemic diseases and can involve various internal organs. The most common cause of mortality in RA and SLE is cardiovascular disease. Many studies done worldwide have shown that these patients have increased baseline inflammation, which causes endothelial damage and premature atherosclerosis, hence more coronary artery disease.

Likewise, patients with arthritis can have other organ involvement like eyes, lungs, kidneys, etc. There is a higher prevalence of psychosocial abnormalities like anxiety and depression than in the normal population, which leads to impaired quality of life.

Therefore, prompt diagnosis and treatment of arthritis are important to prevent joint damage and extra-articular complications.