SYDNEY, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Nearly one billion people worldwide are projected to be living with osteoarthritis by 2050, up from about 600 million in 2023, according to a new roadmap released on Monday.
There remains no cure and no drug that can stop or slow the disease, prompting researchers to call for stronger health policies to address the growing global disability burden, according to a statement released Monday by Australia's Curtin University.
The global health policy roadmap published in The Lancet on World Arthritis Day by a Curtin University-led group of international researchers said osteoarthritis remained under-recognized in health policies globally and was often inadequately integrated into healthcare delivery for chronic diseases, and inconsistently and often inappropriately treated and prevented.
The roadmap calls on governments to recognize osteoarthritis as a major chronic disease, improve access to evidence-based care, invest in prevention by addressing excess body weight and joint injuries, and integrate osteoarthritis care with broader chronic disease and rehabilitation services.
"Osteoarthritis faces an image problem -- it's perceived and dismissed in communities as an unavoidable part of aging with limited management options," said the report's lead author Professor Andrew Briggs from Curtin University.
Professor Lyn March, a co-senior author from Australia's Kolling Institute, said the global disability burden attributed to osteoarthritis increased by 65 percent between 1990 and 2023.
Rising obesity rates, population aging and increasing joint injuries are expected to drive further growth in cases in coming decades, the researchers warned. ■
