statistics for the young with RA?

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chris7
chris7 Bots Posts: 2,696
edited 25. Jul 2011, 12:51 in Chat to our Helpline Team archive
Hi Helpline

Do you know or can you direct me anywhere which would give indications of how many people are being newly diagnosed or treated with RA for example under age 30 in this Country?

My reason for asking is because I work in a bookshop where we are regularly asked to recommend titles. Books are then bought in duplicates and prominently displayed face out with our brief summary. Often these are titles which sell well anyway and I can't really see the point. However I want to try and buck the trend by recommending:

Another Alice by Alice Peterson. A biography of her own RA story as a young women. Though we are a busy store, the one copy we possess is rather hidden in the health section and it saddens me that it has not been found or sold for over a year, though I personally know of at least 3 young newly diagnosed sufferers who would benefit from it by at least feeling not so alone!

Do such stats exist which I could include as to how many youngsters are affected in order to dispell a few myths and maybe, just maybe, ensure that by highlighting the book in this way that at least one person finds her testimony to the human spirit gives them a little hope for the future?

Any advise appreciated.

Many thanks
Chris

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  • helpline_team
    helpline_team Posts: 3,488
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Dear Chris,

    We don't compile statistics or deal with them much here at Helplines. I know that the incidence of rheumatiod in young people is very low - it's a rare condition in the population as a whole too.

    Below the age of 16 inflammatory arthritis all falls into the illness JIA (Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis) and there are probably clearer figures for the incidence of JIA - I think the figure of 12,000 is for all the children thought to have JIA in the UK. But what makes the statistics complicated is that anyone diagnosed with JIA keeps that diagnosis - so just because they get older their arthritis does not change from JIA, so the incidence of young people with rheumatoid may look quite low.

    For more detail on statististics see Arthritis Research UK's website.

    I hope that is helpful.

    Guy
  • chris7
    chris7 Bots Posts: 2,696
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
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    Hi Guy

    Yes it is a bit muddied then eh, but thanks for getting back to me. I will try the research site as you suggest.
    many thanks
    Chris
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