Please join Atlantic PATH in acknowledging Arthritis Awareness Month this September. Arthritis affects joints and other tissues which results in pain and limited mobility. One in five people in Canada live with arthritis and Atlantic Canada has some of the highest rates in the country. We would like to highlight arthritis research using data from Atlantic PATH participants. Dr. Cheryl Kozey and colleagues completed a study on the Current Management and Health Care Quality for Patients with Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis. The team used existing data from Atlantic PATH to examine self-reported characteristics of people living with and without osteoarthritis in all three Maritime Provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island).  The Atlantic PATH data for Nova Scotians was then linked to administrative data, accessed through Health Data Nova Scotia, in order to identify trends in health care use by Nova Scotians with and without osteoarthritis. The report, Current Management and Health Care Use for People with Osteoarthritis and infographic detail their findings, including that people with osteoarthritis in the Maritimes were older, more likely to be female, and had lower socioeconomic status compared to those without osteoarthritis. Participants with osteoarthritis from Atlantic PATH were invited to participate in an ancillary study. The article “Quality of Non-Surgical and Non-Pharmacological Knee Osteoarthritis Care in the Maritimes” highlights that more than half of individuals with mild-to-moderate knee osteoarthritis did not receive recommended core treatments in the Maritimes, highlighting a need to improve care for this patient group. Dr. Vanessa DeClercq‘s work focused on the relationship between adipokines and adiposity among females with rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. Using data and biological samples from Atlantic PATH, they found that those with higher levels of adiponectin were more likely to have osteoarthritis, but not rheumatoid arthritis. This study demonstrates differences in measures of adiposity and adipokines in specific types of arthritis. Last Updated on September 4, 2025