Program Descriptions

Minnesota Arthritis Program

State Burden

Approximately 827,000 Minnesotans or 21% of Minnesota’s adult population report they have arthritis that has been diagnosed by a physician according to the 2009 Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. The prevalence of arthritis increases with age and in Minnesota, 9 % of adults between the ages of 18 and 44 have physician-diagnosed arthritis, 27% of adults ages 45 to 64, 42% of adults ages 65 to 74, and 47% of those 75 years of age and older have physician-diagnosed arthritis. Of those with physician-diagnosed arthritis, 43% have limitations in their daily activities due to arthritis, 21% report severe joint pain and among those adults 18 to 64 years of age, 34% report some work limitation due to their arthritis.

Minnesota Arthritis Partnership

The Minnesota Arthritis Partnership members include organizations and individuals, working to raise the awareness of arthritis, improve the quality of life and prevent disability in Minnesota. A key focus of the partnership is to support and promote the implementation of sustainable, evidence-based programs for people with arthritis and other chronic conditions. The Partnership works in collaboration with regional program coordinating groups to further program dissemination and coordination and increase the availability of information and resources for people with arthritis.

Key Partners

Arthritis Foundation North Central Chapter
The Living At Home Network and the Minnesota Living At Home/Block Nurse Programs
Minnesota Board on Aging and Aging and Area Agencies on Aging
KLBB Radio and the Minnesota News Network Radio Network
Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians Foundation

Intervention and Partnership Highlights

The Minnesota Department of Health works with its partners to provide training for leaders and support for implementation of key evidence-based community programs that have been shown to improve the health and quality of life of people with arthritis and other chronic conditions. These include the Stanford Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (Living Well With Chronic Conditions) and Arthritis Self-Management Program, the Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program and Walk With Ease Program and the EnhanceFitness exercise program. We are also increasing the availability of these programs in other languages.

Key health communication information for people with arthritis statewide through radio and print materials including the CDC campaigns “Physical Activity, the Arthritis Pain Reliever” and “Buenos Dias Artritis.”

We are working to raise the awareness of the impact of arthritis in Minnesota through web and print publications of state and national information for a variety of audiences.

Program Documents

Contact Information

Pamela Van Zyl York, MPH, PHD, RD, LN
Unit Leader, Arthritis and Aging Unit
Division of Health Promotion and Chronic Disease
Minnesota Department of Health.
85 East Seventh Place
Suite 220
St. Paul, Minnesota 55101
Telephone: (651) 201-3616
Fax: (651) 201-5800
E-mail: pam.york@health.state.mn.us

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