Leaders of the Arthritis Foundation and the National Alliance for Hispanic Health teamed up with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last weekin 2011 to present new data on Capitol Hill about rates of arthritis in the Hispanic community.

New numbers show arthritis affects 3.1 million Hispanics in the United States and causes one in five Hispanics to have severe joint pain and functional limitations. The data also shows prevalence, pain and disability rates vary widely among different Hispanic sub groups.

Jane L. Delgado, PhD, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health, says the briefing room on Capitol Hill was filled to capacity with representatives from various congressional offices as this new data was announced. “The important thing is we’re all working together and presenting this data as not just a challenge to people who are in decision-making roles, but also to us, to work together to make people’s lives better,” she explains.

“These findings suggest a critical need to expand the reach of effective strategies aimed at arthritis prevention and management, particularly among underserved populations,” says John H. Klippel, MD, president and CEO of the Arthritis Foundation, who was also in attendance.

This is the first time the Centers for Disease Control, or CDC, has broken down arthritis data among seven different Latino sub groups – Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Mexican Americans, South and Central Americans, Dominicans and Cubans. The new data, which is also published in the February 18 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, shows among those subgroups, Puerto Ricans have the highest rates of arthritis at 21.8 percent. Cuban Americans have the lowest rates at 11.7 percent.  

“Going in we knew prevalence of arthritis was lower among Hispanics compared to blacks and whites. So it was surprising to see a 10 percent range between 12 percent of Cubans and 22 percent of Puerto Ricans,” says Louise Murphy, PhD, an epidemiologist in the arthritis program at the CDC and lead author of the study.

Researchers also discovered that at least 20 percent of people in each of the Hispanic groups struggled with severe joint pain and functional limitations that affect work and other activities. But Mexican-Americans reported the most work limitations: 41.6 percent, compared with 32.9 percent among Central and South Americans. Puerto Ricans reported the most severe joint pain: 44.1 percent, compared with 23.7 percent among Cubans and Cuban Americans.

“(The numbers) were surprising to people. I don’t think people realized the vast differences among these groups,” explains Patience White, MD, vice president of public health at the Arthritis Foundation and professor of medicine and pediatrics at George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. “In the past we’ve just lumped everyone together. Now we know there’s a difference in prevalence and the impact and burden of arthritis.”

Researchers don’t know why these differences between the subgroups exist. They speculate it could be due to different risk factors like obesity, the fact that some in these groups have little or no access to health care and insurance or because of cultural differences in the way people perceive and describe pain and limitation.

Delgado also says she believes it’s possible that some subgroups don’t actually have lower prevalence rates, but instead don’t have access to a doctor, medical care or health insurance. “It may be that Cubans don’t have as low a rate but don’t get diagnosed. That’s something that needs to be considered,” she says.

But experts agree that going forward, simply knowing there are differences will allow the medical community to bring specific data to the various populations to better motivate them to manage their condition through doctors’ visits, exercise, weight loss or classes that can teach techniques to manage the pain of arthritis.

“There may be different ways to approach these groups. We have to learn culturally sensitive ways to approach each subgroup to help them improve their lives,” Dr. White explains.

Delgado agrees. “I think we have to obviously target services to those people with high rates,” she says. “But across the board, there are over three million Hispanics diagnosed with arthritis and we know there are a lot of people who aren’t diagnosed but do have arthritis. So getting information out there that there are treatments and options and you don’t have to live with pain and discomfort is a message we need to get to people.”