Voice of Arthritis 2011 was a community based survey which recruited a representative sample of over 1000 people with arthritis across Australia. The purpose was to find out how arthritis affected people at home and at work and what factors were associated with good or poor outcomes.

Analysis of the results gathered revealed three distinct groups of people.

About a third are coping quite well with their arthritis, 52% are doing fairly badly and 16% are doing badly. The two groups which are doing worse represent over two thirds (68%) and are experiencing significantly more pain, disability with reduction of their work capacity and increased financial strain and social isolation.

A large proportion of people with arthritis (79%) also have another condition such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes or depression and in over half the cases, these conditions followed the diagnosis of arthritis.

The worse someone is faring with their arthritis is associated with their perceived standard of care, the information made available to them, and associated access – not with the severity of their arthritis, how long they have had it, their age, their income, private health insurance cover nor other illnesses.