Summarized Epidemiology

Self-reported prevalence

In the 2001 NHS, about 75 out of 1,000 Australians reported osteoarthritis. This equates to around
1.4 million people. This estimate is based on the NHS question: whether the survey respondent ‘currently has osteoarthritis’.

The NHS survey assumes all reported cases of osteoarthritis to be long term (i.e. conditions that
have lasted at least six months, or that are likely to last six months or more). The prevalence of osteoarthritis increases with age: relatively few people at younger ages report having it. By age 55, however, the prevalence rises sharply (ABS 2002).

Osteoarthritis is reported more frequently by females than males (92 compared with 57 per 1,000 persons in 2001). The difference persists across all ages.
In 2001,
• the prevalence was 331 per 1,000, among females aged 65–74.
• 374 per 1,000 among those aged 75 and over.
• Comparable rates among males that year were 186 and 236 per 1,000, respectively


• Several studies have reported a crossover in osteoarthritis prevalence between the two sexes around the age of 45.
• Males are affected more commonly below age 45, whereas above age 45 females are affected not only more frequently but also more severely .

• In an omnibus survey of the South Australian population, Hill et al. (1999) estimated the prevalence of osteoarthritis among those aged 15 and above to be around 86 per 1,000 persons (51 per 1,000 males and 111 per 1,000 females). The prevalence increased with age, rising above 261 per 1,000 among those aged
70 and above.
• A study in North Sydney estimated the prevalence of osteoarthritis to be around 79 per 1,000 persons

• Symptomatic osteoarthritis was also reported by more than one-quarter of persons aged 60 and above in the Dubbo Osteoporosis Study (Jones et al. 1995).

• The NHS indicates that the prevalence of osteoarthritis has risen from 69 per 1,000 persons in 1995 to 75 per 1,000 persons in 2001.