Hot off the press

Are musculoskeletal conditions neglected in national health surveys?

Yes they are!
https://academic.oup.com/rheumatology/advance-article/doi/10.1093/rheumatology/keab025/6119394

And that's the extent of the problem
*white areas represent countries' where MSK conditions are neglected in national health surveys

Why is this a problem?

National health surveys are very important tools for health surveillance & health service planning. We found that in 2/3 of countries globally, MSK conditions are likely to be invisible.

The problem stands out even more when you examine which countries monitor MSK conditions in their NHSs. ~70% are high-income countries, who often have other ways to conduct surveillance in addition to NHSs. The *bigger* problem here is the lack of surveillance in LMICs.

The good news here is that most countries within the EU do monitor MSK conditions in their national health surveys. That's the result of a coordinated EU effort through the standardisation of their NHSs - the European Health Interview Survey. More here: http://bit.ly/2MpOJeh 

Perhaps it's time for continental organisations such as @pahowho, @WHOAFRO, @WHOSEARO to embrace similar initiatives and help out their Member States to address the challenges of monitoring MSK conditions at the country-level?

We also noticed that rheumatic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and gout are very underrepresented in relation to other MSK conditions. Although less prevalent than back pain and osteoarthritis for example, these conditions result in a high individual and societal burden.

We also identified that a a *very* small n of countries measure the consequences of MSK conditions in terms of disability (10%), pain (8%), & work absence (1%). Why is that important? To adequately gauge the impact of those conditions, merely asking "do you have X?" isn't enough.

We hope this study helps increase awareness on the importance of adequately monitoring MSK conditions globally. Proper surveillance is the very first step to reduce disease burden. You can't improve what you don't measure!