[The social medicine significance of rheumatic diseases]

There is no doubt that the various rheumatoid diseases constitute a socio-medical and socio-economic problem of first order. Surely the importance of this problem will even grow till around the turn of the millenium because the share of older people in the total population of the German Federal Republic is continuing to increase. Concerning frequency and duration the rheumatoid diseases figure at the top of all the insurance benefits. The following measures are essentials to a successful combat of this popular disease: Purposive information, prevention, early diagnosis, adequate treatment and a fitting the patient back into the productive process. Among the rheumatoid diseases the degenerative changes are ranking foremost in the range of frequency, unchallenged and at a considerable distance from the primarily inflammatory diseases. Arthroses and spondyloses are by no means a simple "articular detrition" but a disease in which the time factor is not always of decisive importance. There are ascertainable degenerative articular changes to be found in every person virtually by the age of fifty-five although not everybody has physical complaints. As to the increase in frequency observed in the past few years regarding fillings of applications for therapies because of so-called rheumatic complaints, changes of the conditions at someone's workplace alone cannot be blamed for it at all, rather bad posture and unsound stresses in one's leisure time as well as a new kind of consciousness of being sick supervene. A prophylactic healthful conduct depends strongly upon a person's social status and upon socio-cultural conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)