Arthritis care costs Australia A$24B/year

Research, supported by USA-headquartered pharmaceutical company Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and undertaken by Leadership Factor, shows that  Australians with arthritis use medicines extensively to manage their  pain.

The survey, conducted in the last quarter of 2007, was to provide  information on how patients managed arthritis pain and the various  medicines they used, and was intended to help guide development of new  policies, as well as support programs by Arthritis NSW.

A key finding of the Medical Management of Arthritis study, which  included a patient survey with 4,911 returns across several states, was  that 70% of people with the disease seek relief through prescription  medicines and, of this number, 87% take between one and three  prescribed medicines.