One in Five American Adults Experience Chronic Pain
Millions of Americans suffer with chronic pain, which can have serious effects on quality of life, as well as economic costs. Estimates of its prevalence and impact vary. To get a better understanding of how widespread chronic pain is, the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added questions about pain to its annual survey of health status among adults in the United States. The 2019 survey included data on about 32,000 adults. Based on the results, researchers, who reported their findings in the journal Pain (April 2021), calculated that about 50 million adults (20.5%) experience pain on most days or every day. The most common pain locations were the back, hip, knee and foot. The most common treatment strategies were physical therapy and massage. Having chronic pain limited daily functioning and resulted in more missed workdays than not having chronic pain. This translates to approximately $80 billion in lost wages.
