Commi Aging. Subcommittee on Health and Long-Term Care THE WAR ON ARTHRITIS: WHEN DOES SELECT COMMITTEE ON AGING HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETY-SEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION C-374 413 86-530 O JUNE 10, 1981 Printed for the use of the Select Committee on Aging U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1981 SELECT COMMITTEE ON AGING CLAUDE PEPPER, Florida, Chairman MATTHEW J. RINALDO, New Jersey, Ranking Minority Member WILLIAM C. WAMPLER, Virginia JOHN PAUL HAMMERSCHMIDT, Arkansas MARC L. MARKS, Pennsylvania RALPH REGULA, Ohio ROBERT K. DORNAN, California HAROLD C. HOLLENBECK, New Jersey MARILYN LLOYD BOUQUARD, Tennessee JIM SANTINI, Nevada DAVID W. EVANS, Indiana STANLEY N. LUNDINE, New York THOMAS A. LUKEN, Ohio GERALDINE A. FERRARO, New York HENRY A. WAXMAN, California EUGENE V. ATKINSON, Pennsylvania BOB SHAMANSKY, Ohio RON WYDEN, Oregon DONALD JOSEPH ALBOSTA, Michigan NORMAN D. SHUMWAY, California OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine DAN LUNGREN, California MILLICENT FENWICK, New Jersey JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont THOMAS J. TAUKE, Iowa THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire DAN COATS, Indiana GEORGE C. WORTLEY, New York LARRY E. CRAIG, Idaho BILL HENDON, North Carolina Dr. Ephraim P. Engleman, clinical professor of medicine, University of Cali- fornia Medical Center, San Francisco, and director, Rosalind Russell Medi- cal Research Center for Arthritis Fay Welch, Athens, Ga., Georgia chapter, Arthritis Foundation. Frances McCully, Rushville, Ind., Indiana chapter, Arthritis Foundation. J. Claude Bennet, M.D., professor of medicine, University of Alabama in Birmingham, and president, American Rheumatism Association..... James R. Klinenberg, M.D., professor and chairman, department of medicine, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, UCLA School of Medicine.. Clement B. Sledge, M.D., professor of orthopedic surgery, Harvard Medical THE WAR ON ARTHRITIS: WHEN DOES IT BEGIN? WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1981 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SELECT COMMITTEE ON AGING, SUBCOMMITTEE ON HEALTH AND LONG-TERM CARE, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m. in room 2253, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Claude Pepper (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Members present: Representatives Pepper of Florida, Oakar of Ohio, Wortley of New York, and Daub of Nebraska. Staff present: Louise Bracknell, staff director, James Oberle, Ph. D., minority staff director; Mark Covall, professional staff, and Kitty Edwards, majority staff assistant. OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN CLAUDE PEPPER Mr. PEPPER. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am sorry to have been late, but we had a meeting over at the Speaker's office which I had to attend and I was a little late in getting away. We have convened this hearing to look at a crippling disease, a disease characterized by wracking pain, immobile joints, and, often, deformity. This disease afflicts over 31 million Americans of all ages, kills 6,000 annually, and disables 7 million people. Each year it costs our economy almost $15 billion in medical care, disability payments, and lost income and tax revenues. A problem of this magnitude belongs high on the list of concerns of the American people. But the disease is arthritis, and all too many view it as hum-drum, nothing to make a fuss about. We are all expected to get it and it is nothing to worry about. Apparently some of the people who dole out Federal research dollars view it this way, because we are told that we are spending about 47 cents per victim to find new treatments and a cure for arthritis. For osteoarthritis, the form most often associated with the elderly, we are spending about 51⁄2 cents per victim, a nickel a year, when that disease alone afflicts 16 million Americans. But even this amount has brought exciting research leads, and we will hear about some of those today. How much better we could do with more money for research. But money alone is not the answer. Visibility and public awareness are equally important. The primary Federal responsibility for arthritis research now resides with the recently renamed National Institute of Arthritis, Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. In this institute, arthritis is grouped with many other, often unrelated, diseases. One (1) |