A national online survey conducted in April by Flexcin International, Inc, Fort Myers, Fla., collected responses from 1,350 individuals who have some form of arthritis, osteoarthritis, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, lupus or other joint-related pain, illness or disability.
Findings from the survey, which evaluated levels of support and awareness for those with arthritis, reveals women feel they receive less support than their spouses. The survey also showed co-workers offer more support than family members.
Data from the survey also indicates that in households where only one spouse has a form of arthritis, 78.3% of women feel they receive little or no support; and 65.6% of men say they are satisfied with support. More than half of respondents still working (56.3%) say they feel co-workers offer a higher level of support and overall awareness compared to that of family members.
About 67% of respondents report other members of the household are never aware of their arthritis or just sometimes, and 64.4% of respondents indicate others in the household never take an interest in their daily issues with arthritis, or just every now and then.
The majority of respondents (58.4%) report their arthritis hurts the most when cleaning and doing household chores.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) projects that by the year 2030 an estimated 67 million people in the U.S. will be affected by arthritis, up from current estimates of 50 million.
[Source: Flexcin]
