1.5-2.1 million adults with rheumatic diseases in Germany

Epidemiologists at the DRFZ have re-estimated the frequency of inflammatory rheumatic diseases in Germany based on a systematic review.

Their data show that rheumatoid arthritis (affecting approx. 0.8%-1.2% of the population) and spondyloarthritides (approx. 1%-1.4%) are the most common rheumatic diseases, followed by collagenoses and vasculitides. “Overall, we estimate the incidence of disease to be about 2.2% to 3% of the adult population. This means that approximately 1.5 to 2.1 million adults suffer from inflammatory rheumatic diseases”, summarises Katinka Albrecht, Health Services Research group at the DRFZ. In addition, there are about 0.1% or 14,000 children and adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

“Most studies today are conducted with claims data from statutory health insurance companies. However, these are not primarily collected for research and are associated with a great degree of uncertainty. Therefore, we systematically analysed the risk of bias and have provided ranges that reflect the approximate order of magnitude of the disease prevalence,” emphasises Johanna Callhoff from the Health Services Research Group.