Musculoskeletal conditions: the case for better data

Musculoskeletal conditions are a major contributor to multimorbidity and are more likely to develop with age. Amy Forbes, Policy Officer at Arthritis Research UK explores the health data issues around musculoskeletal conditions.

Musculoskeletal conditions have a substantial impact on individuals, the health service and society as a whole. A musculoskeletal condition can hinder someone’s ability to do normal activities, significantly affecting their quality of life and limiting independence: common symptoms include pain, stiffness and loss of mobility and dexterity.

Musculoskeletal conditions are a major contributor to multimorbidity. They are the single biggest cause of disability in the UK, accounting for 30.5% of all years lived with disability. Around 20% of the general population consult their GP about a musculoskeletal problem each year, and 82% of people with osteoarthritis have at least one other long term condition like cardiovascular disease, hypertension or depression.

Health & social care costs: big data, or huge problem?

Rachel Elliott and Matthew Franklin are reporting on behalf of the Medical Crises in Older People (MCOP) research team. Read the first part of their blog on identifying health & social costs here.

As part of a programme developing and evaluating care in older people, our recent study in Age and Ageing reports health and social care costs over a three month period for older people discharged from Acute Medical Units (AMU) by applying unit costs to patient-level data obtained from six different agencies: hospitals, primary care, social care, mental healthcare, ambulance services, and intermediate care. This is the first study to do this in England, but obtaining resource use data from individual services for this analysis took months, which was costly and of no use for real time patient management.