Tracking how women manage osteoarthritis
Australia is keeping an eye on how baby boomer women – those entering their 60s – are managing osteoarthritis, thanks to a study by CQUniversity Professorial Research Fellow, Lynne Parkinson.
CQUniversity Professorial Research Fellow, Lynne Parkinson, is keeping an eye on how baby boomer women – those entering their 60s – are managing osteoarthritis.
Australia is keeping an eye on how baby boomer women – those entering their 60s – are managing osteoarthritis, thanks to a study by CQUniversity Professorial Research Fellow, Lynne Parkinson.
Professor Parkinson recently gave an update on her exploration of women's experiences, during a LivWell Research Group meeting hosted by the Gerontology Department of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.
She told her Canadian colleagues that Australian women with osteoarthritis tend to use health services more before reporting of their condition, but subsequently reduce their doctor visits while increasing visits to allied health services.
“Arthritis is of interest because it is a major cause of disability and chronic pain and there's no cure. It's often associated with multiple comorbidities (related ailments) and can impact on management of other conditions,” Professor Parkinson says.
“Most people with arthritis are women… it's often overlooked when impacts of chronic disease on health service use are considered.”
Professor Parkinson is a population health gerontologist examining the impact and management of arthritis and comorbid (related) health conditions.
Her research was conducted as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health based at the University of Newcastle and University of Queensland. Researchers involved in this Study are grateful for funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and the women who provided the survey data.
Medicare Australia is acknowledged for the Medical Benefits Schedule and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme data. Funding for these analyses was provided by a CQUniversity Australia RDI Co-operative Research Grant (RSH/2535) and supported by the federal government’s Collaborative Research Networks (CRN) Program.
