The CDC has announced that the annual cost of arthritis in the US has increased to $128 billion annually in medical care and indirect expenses such as lost wages and production.

Arthritis is the nation’s leading cause of disability. Currently, 46 million Americans have arthritis and an estimated 8 million new cases will be diagnosed in the next decade. As the baby boomer generation ages, they add to the millions of arthritis sufferers in large numbers.

Arthritis is not only costly in monetary terms. Arthritis costs millions of individuals their health, physical abilities and often, their independence.

The Arthritis Foundation, the nation’s largest private, non-profit contributer to arthritis research has spent more than $380 billion since 1948 to support research into causes and cures of the many forms of arthritis.