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. "The prevalence of arthritis in a diabetic population is astoundingly high," said Dr. John Klippel, president of the Arthritis Foundation in a telephone interview. "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.
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.
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 -- or 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.
I am a Type 1 diabetic and have always been physically fit. My RA has impacted my ability to do the sports I love like rock climbing but I still walk and exercise regularly in the pool. That's the sad part of this, type 1 diabetes is auto immune related and I often get the comment "well you are too thin to be a diabetic," or "you take insulin so your diabetes must be really bad." I blame the media and even the CDC for not educating the public about the forms of diabetes. I guess in many ways arthritis is the same...RA is auto immune, whereas OA is not. Lucky for me I have three auto immune diseases (sarcasm here). Thanks for sharing this...Hiking_gal
hiking gal - sounds like we're in much the same boat. I, too, have type I diabetes and RA....and lack intrinsic factor...and have thyroid problems. Unfortunately, I don't have your "too thin for diabetes" issue...I'm trying to lose weight! :) Still, there is a wealth of ignorance out there about auto-immune diseases. The type I/RA connection makes sense given the autoimmune connection, but the type II arthritis link is more intriguing.Hi,
Wow, we were made of the same mold....it makes me feel better knowing someone else is plagued with auto immune diseases. You are right that there is a lot of misunderstanding with AI diseases. Hope you are well....Hiking_gal
Type 1 diabetes is different than type 2 and I believe the article is mosting pointing towards type 2.