Why Arthritis Is Common In Women

 Recent statistics on arthritis in women

Women with arthritis report more sleep difficulties than women with other chronic diseases across all age groups and men with arthritis in older age groups.

Women with arthritis are less likely than women with other chronic health issues to have young children.

Women with arthritis experience higher rates of depression than women with no or other chronic disease, as well as men.

Women with arthritis are more likely to require help with daily activities and more likely to be without a job than men with arthritis or women with other chronic conditions.

Nearly two-thirds of those who get the disease are women; an estimated 41 million Americans.

Arthritis affects about 37 percent of the female population and 28 percent of males.

Arthritis limits the daily activities of an estimated 4.6 million women.

Some 16 million women are currently affected by osteoarthritis, a disease that strikes women nearly three times more often than men. To make matters worse, women usually develop the disease at a younger age.

Seventy-five percent of rheumatoid arthritis patients (about 1.5 million) are women.

Ninety percent of those who have either lupus or fibromyalgia are women.

Twice as many girls as boys develop juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

African-American women are at particular risk for arthritis. There's a higher rate of arthritis reported among African-American women after age 35 than in Caucasian women, and young African-American women are three times more likely to develop lupus than their Caucasian counterparts.

Women with arthritis experience more pain and long-term disability than those without the disease.

Why women are more affected by arthritis?

While there is clear-cut and universally acceptable reason explaining why arthritis is more common in women as compared to men, the following factors have been proposed:

Autoimmune diseases (including arthritis) are often more common in women.

Women are more sharply and greatly impacted by hormones (during puberty and menopause) which, in certain types of arthritis, have a key role in origin of the disease.

Women generally tend to have lower rates of exercise and physical activity (as compared to men). This immobility is also considered as one of the risk factors for arthritis.

Women have higher fat deposition in and around body tissues which may lead to immobility as well as higher cholesterol deposition, another risk factor for certain kinds of arthritis.