Arthritis in Aboriginal Manitobans: evidence for a high burden of disease.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the relative burden of arthritis and patterns of care in Aboriginal Manitobans, using multiple data sets to ensure a representative picture.


METHODS
Arthritis burden and healthcare utilization was ascertained using 3 separate data sources. Physician claims for 3 common ICD-9 musculoskeletal diagnoses were abstracted from the Population Health Research Data Repository for First Nations (FN) Manitobans and compared to all other Manitobans. Self-reported arthritis rates were obtained from the Manitoba First Nations Regional Longitudinal Health Survey (MFN Survey), which surveyed FN persons living on-reserve. Data on ethnicity and diagnoses were abstracted from the Arthritis Centre research database, which contains records of all patients seen at the Arthritis Centre.


RESULTS
Twice as many FN Manitobans had physician claims for rheumatoid arthritis, degenerative arthritis, and unspecified arthropathy compared to all other Manitobans. MFN Survey data identified a self-reported arthritis rate of 21.0% and a rheumatoid arthritis (RA) rate of 3.0%. Data for 687 Aboriginal patients and 4135 Caucasian patients were abstracted from the Arthritis Centre database. Aboriginal patients seen in the Arthritis Centre were 2 to 4 times more likely to have a diagnosis of inflammatory disease, and less than half as likely to have noninflammatory disease.


CONCLUSIONS
The data highlight the increased burden of arthritis in Aboriginal Manitobans, and draw attention to large gaps in our knowledge of how, why, and when Aboriginals access medical care.
Barnabe
Cheryl
C
Department of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Elias
Brenda
B
Bartlett
Judith
J
Roos
Leslie
L
Peschken
Christine
C
D001168:Arthritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American; D008350:Manitoba / Q000453:epidemiology; D044382:Population Groups; D015995:Prevalence; D044465:White People