 [ Symptoms ] who is affected by arthritis [ Disease ] arthritis sufferers include men and women children and adults approximately 350 million people worldwide have arthritis nearly 40 million people in the united states are affected by arthritis including over a quarter million children more than 27 million americans have osteoarthritis approximately 1 3 million americans suffer from rheumatoid arthritis more than half of those with arthritis are under 65 years of age nearly 60 of americans with arthritis are women