The Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Dashboard helps patients and other stakeholders understand the facts about the disease and the gaps in the delivery of RA care and treatment in the United Kingdom.
United Kingdom
General health information
Total population
Life expectancy men
Life expectancy women
67 million1
79 years
82.9 years
Annual health
expenditure
Obesity
(% of population)
Smokers
(% of population)
ยฃ269 billion
28 %
12 %
Arthritis in the United Kingdom
Total people living
with arthritis
Women
Men
Frequency (per 1,000 persons per year)
Estimated people living
with arthritis in 2040
Arthritis cost to society (health care costs and loss to economy)
10 million2
Unreported
Unreported
Unreported
Unreported
Unreported
Models of Rheumatoid Arthritis Care
Standardized model
of care
Number of rheumatologists
per 75,000 population
Time to RA diagnosis after experiencing first symptoms (% of patients within 1 month)
RA patient time wait time for first rheumatologist visit
(% of patients longer than 3 months)
Yes
0.8964
Unreported
Unreported
RA in the United Kingdom
Total people living with RA
Women
Men
Frequency (per 1,000 persons per year)
Estimated people living with RA in 2040
RA cost to society
(health care costs and loss to economy)
450,0003
337,5003
112,5003
0.4
Unreported
Unreported
Barriers to virtual care
Lack of digital skills
Access to internet
Cost of Electronics
Language
Data Sources
1 Office for national statistics, Population estimates https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/populationestimatesforukenglandandwalesscotlandandnorthernireland
2 British Society for Rheumatology, Workforce Policy Report 2021. https://www.macpweb.org/write/MediaUploads/CIGs/Rheumatology/BSR-workforce-report-crisis-numbers_June2021.pdf
3 The State of Musculoskeletal Health 2023, Data versus Arthritis - https://www.versusarthritis.org/media/25613/versus-arthritis-state-msk-musculoskeletal-health-2023.pdf
4 (Extrapolated and averaged based on four UK's nations numbers and total population) British Society for Rheumatology, Workforce Policy Report 2021. https://www.macpweb.org/write/MediaUploads/CIGs/Rheumatology/BSR-workforce-report-crisis-numbers_June2021.pdf