State Burden
In 2003, more than 1.8 million adult North Carolinians (NC) (29%) reported
a doctor told them they had arthritis; of those with arthritis, 41.3%
report arthritis-attributable activity limitation. The over 65-age group
reported the highest percentage, with over 56% being diagnosed with
arthritis. About 34% of NC females have been diagnosed with arthritis
and of those 43% report being affected in their daily activities because
of arthritis. The prevalence of arthritis among white non-Hispanics is
30.4%; black non-Hispanics is 26.8%, and Hispanics 12.5%.
NC Arthritis Advisory Board
The North Carolina Advisory Board promotes public awareness,
prevention, early detection and diagnosis, treatment and management of
arthritis and other rheumatic conditions to maintain quality of life,
prevent disability and preserve independent living for the citizens of
North Carolina. This board represents strong community partnerships with
a diverse population from both public and private organizations. The
board works through three committees to coordinate statewide efforts to
raise public awareness and understanding of arthritis as a public health
concern, to identify and utilize opportunities to publicize the need for
arthritis programming in NC, to maintain arthritis surveillance, to
deliver and embed the delivery of evidence-based arthritis program into
systems, and advocate for policies and systems. The board is
instrumental in writing and providing technical assistance for the NC
Action Plan, which will serves as a critical tool, and catalyst for
moving program goals and objectives forward.
Key Partners
- Carolinas Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation
- Arthritis Patient Services
- Thurston Arthritis Research Center—University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill
- NC Cooperative Extension Services
- Healthy Carolinians
- ViQuest
Intervention and Partnership Highlights
The North Carolina Arthritis Program is working with partners to
expand the reach of evidence based arthritis programs as well as
embedding them into existing systems statewide.
Several examples include the following
- Continuing to partner with the Arthritis Foundation Carolinas
Chapter to expand reach
- Beginning to partner with the NC Cooperative Extension Services to
integrate the arthritis message and services into their community
programs
- Collaborating with Wake County Health Promotion & Disease Prevention
Program to provide instructor trainings at their newly established
“Statewide Arthritis Training Site”
- Developing new partnership with ViQuest, an Eastern NC Regional
Wellness Center, to provide both instructor trainings and community
programs for rural areas
- Working with the NC Division of Public Health Diabetes Prevention &
Control Branch to implement the CDSMP
Program Documents
The North Carolina Arthritis Report 2002 is presently on the website.
The 2005 North Carolina Burden Reports and 2006 NC Arthritis Action Plan
will be placed on the website in summer 2006.
- North Carolina Arthritis Program
and Web site: http://www.ncarthritis.com*
Contact Information
Denise Brewster, M.Ed.
Acting Arthritis Program Coordinator
NC Division of Public Health, DHHS
1915 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1915
Telephone (919) 707.5222
Fax (919) 870.4804
E-mail
Denise.brewster@ncmail.net
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