Arthritis: The Impact on Daily Life - YouGov report

[MissMinto]

Arthritis Action have just released the report: arthritisaction.org.uk/wp-c...

"The report examined the day-to-day impact of arthritis on 2,074 people of working age in Great Britain, and focused on mental health, life satisfaction, and work-related impacts.

It reveals that people living with arthritis report lower life satisfaction than the overall UK national average. It also highlights the benefits of implementing self-management strategies, with 2 in 3 respondents saying that self-management has been helpful to them."

Happy reading folks!

[Hidden]

Interesting cheers but why are they again conflating rheumatoid with osteo, two different things and therefore not comparable I think: AI disease and numbers and ages of people affected for instance. Probably to do with money I suspect 😉x

[MissMinto in reply to Hidden]

The inability to distinguish between RA and OA drives me nuts. Whoever is the editor of The Daily Express really doesn't get it - virtually every week they have a 'new cure for arthritis' front page which is nearly always about osteoarthritis.

[Hidden in reply to MissMinto]

My dad’s daily mail’s the same; he doesn’t get it either 😬 x

They’re always on about the millions with arthritis in UK when actually only @ 400,000 of us & it worries me it will impact on spending on RD as they love to lump us all together.

[Mmrr]

Thanks for this. I've only skimmed it , but am saddened by osteoarthritis and RD being conflated again.

However some interesting information that I'll read more fully.

[AgedCrone in reply to Mmrr]

UGov carries out these surveys on line...don't know if this is one of those...but the answers are so predictable methinks we could have told them the answers without a poll! Even a 10 year old could work out if you are in pain .....life is worse than if you are not.

Of course 64+ age group have a different outlook to both diseases to 24+.....it seems to me the conclusion still doesn't understand being diagnosed with a life long incurable disease at 24 is night & day to 64! Not less devastating but different.

That isn't only applicable to RA or OA...it's a general fact of life...always was & always will be.

The Q's on here could have been asked 20 years ago & got the same answers. I don't know what the questions should be...but a poll asking those with RA & OA how they cope, to be publicised separately would be a start.

Joe Public will still not "get" the enormous difference between the two types of Arthritis ...even if they get past Page 2...... I certainly wouldn't have ploughed through all the numbers out of general interest.

It's just so frustrating that those who are supposed to be leading the way to make a difference, still insist on calling everything "arthritis".

[Hidden]

Thanks fr posting this. Reading it I thought it quite bizarre! They are completely different processes, with different symptoms, treatments (none really for OA and the big guns for RA) with different outcomes, Still shaking my head and wondering whether there is any value in the survey. I fancy not. It would , I hope, never have passed as a proposal for serious research. Probably all people with long term health conditions would appreciate some self management support.

[AgedCrone in reply to Hidden]

Being charitable.......It's very 'disappointing' isn't it.

You are right - it's number crunching...not research.

[Bx12]

I agree with all the above, it seems more like a piece of research to justify using more "self management" in RA and Osteo. (cheap?) While I am sure that each of us does manage our lives in a way that helps us as much as we can, it is no substitute for good medical interventions. (expensive?)

I was surprised and saddened by the number of people who end up using pain killers on a fairly regular basis, in spite of all the so called advances in drugs to treat our RA. Maybe those figures come predominently from the osteo arthritis sufferers?

Having said that, I am currently taking painkillers at least two times a week in addition to my RA drugs. There is no magic pill for RA, but perhaps what the medical profession can do for us is help us use a combination of drugs which is least harmful for maximum benefit, which seems to vary from person to person.

[AgedCrone in reply to Bx12]

We don't know for sure how the people whose answers were used in this report were chosen,

Anybody can join YouGov to complete their polls. You fill in a Questionnaire with likes/dislikes etc, so there is really nothing to say everybody who answered actually has RA/OA.

2074 people out of how many hundreds of thousands who do have RA/OA is hardly a representative percentage.

Personally I am very disappointed with the research presented by all the societies/associations representing "arthritis".

I really wonder when they are going to loudly announce there are huge differences between RA/OA? It would save a lot of unnecessary reading.

[AgedCrone]

I don't know how to add a link to reproduce a newspaper article but for anyone interested in OA there was an article in The Telegraph on Monday 15 October entitled "My aches & pains are arthritis &I'm only 42" by Sarah Ivens

It really illustrates how little people know about any sort of arthritis.

[Hidden in reply to AgedCrone]

google.com/amp/s/www.telegr...

Think that’s it AC. Just posted reply to Caza on doing links 😉x

Couldn’t agree more on ‘arthritis’ tag; it’s one thing that winds us all up. Matron at rheumatology referred to it as this even last meeting I went to 😬 grr, serious lack of understanding there x

[AgedCrone in reply to Hidden]

Thank you Kerena....I'll look .....& let you know if it's the article.

Did you read the article ? Is it me....or would most people having been diagnosed with OA & having painful hips think going or a run would be a "good idea"? Or be surprised that extra weight would be contraindicated?

It honestly seems that nobody wants to read the truth about RA doesn't it?

Too hard to take the truth? Especially when it is such an understaffed & underfunded condition..

[Hidden]

Just read it all AC, had to register. My dad has had 2 hip replacement for osteo & cld barely walk before let alone run!

Honestly, the poor public profile drives me nuts. I read somewhere it’s more prevalent than type 1 diabetes or MS & yet they receive more funding (not a competition I know & wldn’t wish any AI condition on anyone, but frustrating). x

[AgedCrone in reply to Hidden]

I thought the lady who wrote that article was a bit naive for a 42yr old or is that my age talking?

[Hidden in reply to AgedCrone]

No I’m with you there; I wanted to do comment on it but haven’t figured it out yet: she mentioned Edith Piaf & Renoir, both had rheumatoid not osteo I believe, must have been utterly debilitating then.

[AgedCrone in reply to Hidden]

I know I'm super critical, & I'm sure the lady is/was having a hard time, with OA, but it sounds to me as if a lot of the article was ghost written?

Can I just add on here nothing to do with 🔼🔼

To the lady of 65 who just posted about applying for PIP ...Her Post has disappeared...if she Googles "Qualifications to receive PIP" everything is explained!