New cases of chronic pain occur more often in the United States than those of other chronic conditions, like diabetes, depression and high blood pressure, according to a study from the National Institutes of Health. The findings offer a large-scale confirmation of what previous research has shown: Chronic pain is staggeringly common in America.
Experts have known that around one-fifth of U.S. adults have chronic pain, but the new study offers a snapshot of just how many people are newly suffering each year. Researchers analyzed data from 10,415 adults who participated in two editions of an annual survey led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; respondents reported how often they felt pain in the last three months, and whether that pain interfered with their daily lives.
“We’re talking about a major public health problem,” said Dr. Gregory Terman, a pain medicine specialist at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a co-author of the study.
The study shows that as more people develop new cases of chronic pain, existing patients struggle to recover. Only around 10 percent of those with chronic pain in 2019 were pain-free in 2020, which underscores just how hard it is to treat.
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