title: The impact of arthritis and joint pain on individual healthcare expenditures: findings from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), 2011.
abstract: Joint pain, including back pain, and arthritis are common conditions in the United States, affecting more than 100 million individuals and costing upwards of $200 billion each year. Although activity limitations associated with these disorders impose a substantial economic burden, this relationship has not been explored in a large U.S. cohort.
  
  
  
  In this study, we used the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey to investigate whether functional limitations explain the difference in medical expenditures between patients with arthritis and joint pain and those without. We used sequential explanatory linear models to investigate this relationship and accounted for various covariates.
  
  
  
  Unadjusted mean expenditures were $10,587 for those with joint pain or arthritis, compared with $3813 for those without. In a fully adjusted model accounting also for functional limitations, those with joint pain or arthritis paid $1638 more than those without, a statistically significant difference.
  
  
  
  The growing economic and public health burden of arthritis and joint pain, as well as the corresponding complications of functional, activity, and sensory limitations, calls for an interdisciplinary approach and heightened awareness among providers to identify strategies that meet the needs of high-risk patients in order to prevent and delay disease progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, 135 Cannon Street, Suite CS303, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA.|Center for Health Disparities Research, Medical University of South Carolina, 135 Rutledge Avenue, Room 280H, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA.
authors.forename: Edith M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Disparities Research, Medical University of South Carolina, 135 Rutledge Avenue, Room 280H, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA.|Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, 96 Jonathan Lucas Street, Suite 803, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA.|Health Equity and Rural Outreach Innovation Center (HEROIC), Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 109 Bee Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, USA.
authors.forename: Rebekah J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, 135 Cannon Street, Suite CS303, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA.
authors.forename: Trevor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Faith
authors.affiliation: Center for Health Disparities Research, Medical University of South Carolina, 135 Rutledge Avenue, Room 280H, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA. legede@musc.edu.|Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, 96 Jonathan Lucas Street, Suite 803, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA. legede@musc.edu.|Health Equity and Rural Outreach Innovation Center (HEROIC), Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 109 Bee Street, Charleston, SC, 29401, USA. legede@musc.edu.
authors.forename: Leonard E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Egede
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018771:Arthralgia / Q000191:economics*; D001168:Arthritis / Q000191:economics*; D001416:Back Pain / Q000191:economics; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018803:Models, Economic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Arthritis; Functional limitations; Healthcare cost; Joint pain; MEPS; Medical expenditures