Wealth Paper

ATLANTA (AP) - More than half of U.S. adults with diabetes also have arthritis, raising a serious obstacle for diabetic patients urged to exercise, according to a government study.
The survey of nearly 800,000 people is the first extensive look at the overlap between the two conditions, said Dr. John Klippel, president of the Arthritis Foundation.
And its findings highlight a significant challenge: Most diabetics are told exercise is important to their health, but experts say many of them don’t do it.
People with diabetes who exercise have better control of their blood sugar and a much lower risk of heart disease complications. But the new research suggests many diabetics see themselves as unable to exercise because of arthritis, said Julia Simard, a Harvard School of Public Health researcher who has studied rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes.
“If you have this perception of ill health, it may affect your willingness to be active,” said Simard, who was not involved in the new research.
More than 46 million Americans have some form of arthritis, and nearly 21 million have diabetes. Other research indicates exercise is important in managing both conditions.
The study found that 52 percent of diabetics said they also had arthritis. The conditions and the overlap were most common in Americans 65 and older.
The analysis was based on telephone surveys in the years 2005 and 2007 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers relied on what people said about their health, and did not verify diagnoses.
The researchers also asked about exercise and physical activity. People with both diabetes and arthritis were 30 to 40 percent more likely to be physically inactive than those who had diabetes alone.
“If we’re ever going to successfully control a disease like diabetes, we’re going to have to pay a lot of attention to arthritis,” Klippel said.
Exercise that put less stress on joints, such as walking, biking and aquatics, are recommended for people with arthritis, said Dr. Chad Helmick, a CDC epidemiologist who co-authored the study.
On the Net:
The CDC publication: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr
The Arthritis Foundation: http://www.arthritis.org

via AOL

CHICAGO - People with diabetes are twice as likely to have arthritis, putting them in a double bind as the pain in their joints keeps them from getting the exercise they need to keep both diseases at bay, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

They found that more than half of U.S. adults diagnosed with diabetes also have arthritis, a condition that makes them far less likely to exercise.

The association was independent of age, gender or body mass index (BMI), a measure of obesity.

“The prevalence of arthritis in a diabetic population is astoundingly high,” said Dr. John Klippel, president of the Arthritis Foundation in a telephone interview.

“Over half the people with diabetes have arthritis. If in fact you have both conditions, you are quite unlikely to be physically active,” he said.

According to the report, nearly 30 percent of diabetics with arthritis are likely to be physically inactive, compared with 21 percent of diabetics who do not have arthritis.

That compares with 17.3 percent of adults with arthritis alone who are inactive, and 10.9 percent of adults with neither condition who are inactive.

Nationwide, the CDC found 46.4 million adults have arthritis and 20.6 million have diabetes.

The CDC said the study suggests the pain of arthritis presents a barrier to physical activity — the very thing that might offer people some relief.

“For people with diabetes, physical activity helps control blood glucose and risk factors for complications. For people with arthritis, physical activity reduces pain and improves function,” said Janet Collins, director of the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

JOINT-SAFE EXERCISE

Klippel thinks two things stand in the way.

“Because arthritis affects the joints and is associated with pain, people with arthritis, when they begin to exercise, experience more pain,” he said.

“The other thing is there is a common misconception that exercise is bad for arthritis and it will damage joints.”

He said many forms of exercise are in fact “joint-safe,” including walking, swimming and biking.

“If people walked 30 minutes a day it would have a profound effect on reducing their pain and improving their symptoms,” he said.

Given the scope of the problem, Klippel said the finding will likely affect the way doctors and policymakers go about encouraging their patients to exercise.

“Public health programs that are directed at controlling diabetes are going to need to pay a lot more attention to arthritis if they hope to get people to be physically active,” he said.

The report is based on data gathered from a random telephone survey in 2005 and 2007. People were asked if they had ever been diagnosed with arthritis or diabetes.

It does not say what type of arthritis people had — osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis or another form. Nor does it say if people had type 2 diabetes, the most common kind that is associated with obesity and lack of exercise.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease often diagnosed at an early age.

via MSN