Population-Wide Associations between Common Viral Pathogens and Self-Reported Arthritis: NHANES 2009-2012

Figure 1

The prevalence of positive viral markers and arthritis by age in the US population, NHANES 2009-2012. Viral studies were collected on the full study sample with pre-determined age cutoffs: HSV-1 and HSV-2 serologies: ages 20 to 49. Oral rinse for HPV DNA, ages 20 to 69, vaginal swabs for HPV DNA, ages 20 to 59. The prevalence of self-reported arthritis and viral markers in the population varied with age. Self-reported arthritis prevalence increased with age, from 3.4% in the decade of life to 41.9% in the decade of life, which was the age range of this study (chi-square p value <0.001). HSV-1 and HSV-2 seropositivity increased with age (p <0.001) and oral HPV DNA positivity increased gradually up to the decade of life and then plateaued (p = 0.045). Vaginal HPV DNA positivity declined with age (p<0.001).