To investigate the frequency of publications about arthritis and rheumatic diseases relative to other diseases and to examine which topics received most attention.
Available health statistics were used to quantify the burden of illness due to musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. Next, a bibliographic analysis of MEDLINE was performed comparing disease categories using the MeSH tree structure for 1991 and 1996. Diseases were ranked according to the frequency of citations attributable to them and further analyses were performed for journal categories, MeSH subheadings, and the frequency of citations for specific types of arthritis and rheumatic diseases.
Compared with 9 other causes, MSK diseases are leading contributors to health professional consultations, total health costs, chronic ill health, and disability. In contrast, MSK diseases ranked ninth among twelve major MEDLINE disease categories in 1996 and 1991. These rankings were similarly low across journal categories reflecting basic science research and clinical application. Radiography, rehabilitation, history and embryology were the most frequently used subheadings for MSK diseases. In 1996, there were 16,603 citations for MSK diseases, led by bone diseases (7,304 citations), joint diseases (4,987), muscular diseases (4,236), arthritis (3,555), and rheumatic diseases (3195). Among arthritic and rheumatic diseases, rheumatoid arthritis had the largest number of citations (2,004), followed by systemic lupus erythematosus (927) and osteoarthritis (793).
Arthritis and rheumatic diseases receive far less attention in the scientific literature than is warranted by their enormous and growing disease burden. Both research and dissemination are lacking and more adequate resources for these activities are indicated.