Official Statistics

Musculoskeletal conditions profile: short commentary, January 2021

Published 12 January 2021

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2021

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/musculoskeletal-conditions-profile-january-2021-update/musculoskeletal-conditions-profile-short-commentary-january-2021

Musculoskeletal Conditions: statistical commentary January 2021

New in this update

The following indicator has been revised and updated:

  • percentage reporting at least 2 long-term conditions, at least 1 of which is MSK related

We have published revised estimates for the percentage of people reporting at least 2 long-term conditions, at least 1 of which is a musculoskeletal (MSK) problem, after the identification of an error in the production of the denominator values. As a result of the issue, invalid responses were included in the calculation of the denominator. This means the figures published previously under-reported the percentage of people reporting at least 2 long-term conditions. At England level, this has increased the estimated prevalence by 1.5 percentage points for both 2018 and 2019.

The revised statistics, covering 2018 and 2019, have been published together with the latest 2020 data. There have been changes to the prevalence figures previously published, but the general differences between areas and groups are unchanged.

Summary of updated indicators

This summary focuses on England level data. The musculoskeletal conditions profile presents indicators at the local authority level in addition to regional and England values.

The percentage of people aged 18 and over reporting at least 2 long-term conditions, at least 1 of which is a musculoskeletal (MSK) problem, was 13.3% in 2020. This represents a relatively small, but statistically significant decrease from 2018 and 2019 (13.6% in both years).

In 2020, males remained less likely to report at least 2 long-term conditions than females (11.5% and 15.0% respectively).

The percentage of adults reporting at least 2 long-term conditions, at least 1 of which is MSK related, showed an increase with age, from 1.7% among 18 to 24-year-olds to 46.9% among those aged 85 and over.

When looking at different ethnic groups, those who identified as White Gypsy or Irish Traveller (18.3%), White Irish (17.4%), Black Caribbean (15.7%), or White British (15.3%) remained most likely to report at least 2 long-term conditions and those who identified as Chinese (3.3%) or Any other white background (4.5%) were the least likely.

Background

Musculoskeletal conditions are the leading cause of pain and disability in England and are one of the biggest causes of sickness absence and productivity loss.

The aim of the musculoskeletal conditions profile is to provide meaningful data, on a single platform, to enable the commissioning of high value musculoskeletal services. Musculoskeletal data is essential for understanding the health needs of local populations, the amount of people accessing services, the cost of services and the outcomes services deliver.

If you would like to get in touch about the musculoskeletal conditions profile, please contact msk.enquiries@phe.gov.uk.

Back to top