References: Living Well with Chronic Pain
Below are links to sources for key information in our Living Well with Chronic Pain guide.
- In 2023, 24.3% of adults had chronic pain. – https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db518.htm
- In 2023, 8.5% of adults had chronic pain that frequently limited life or work activities (referred to as high-impact chronic pain) in the past 3 months. – https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db518.htm
- Pediatric chronic pain estimates range from 11 to 38% of children under 18. – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7888311/
- There are 52.4 new cases of chronic pain per 1,000 people each year—a higher rate than that of several other common health conditions, including diabetes, depression, and high blood pressure. – https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-finds-high-rates-persistent-chronic-pain-among-us-adults
- About 83% of people with high-impact pain are unable to work. – https://www.nccih.nih.gov/research/research-results/prevalence-and-profile-of-high-impact-chronic-pain | https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/consequences-of-highimpact-chronic-pain
- Chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain both increased with age. – https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db518.htm
- Chronic pain is the leading cause of long-term disability. – https://obssr.od.nih.gov/about/bssr-accomplishments/chronic-pain
- Pain costs as much as $635 billion yearly in direct health care costs, lost productivity, and disability payments. – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22607834/
- As of 2018, 96% of medical schools in the United States did not require students to take courses on pain medicine. – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6251835/
- People with chronic pain have at least twice the risk of suicide compared to those without chronic pain. – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16420727/ | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278584617304670
- An estimated 50% to 88% of people with chronic pain have ongoing sleep difficulties. – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10267346/
- The percentage of adults with chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain increased with decreasing urbanization level. – https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db518.htm