NIH: More Than 1 in 10 American Adults Experience Chronic Pain

posted by Pivotal Health Solutions on Friday, October 9, 2015

Look around you. More than 1 in 10 American adults say they have pain every day, according to a new analysis by the National Institutes of Health. 

Those with higher levels of pain tend to be older Americans, women and non-Hispanic and not surprisingly, also reported worse overall health, use more health care resources and suffer from more disabilities.

However, many of these patients seek out complementary health approaches to help them relieve pain. Researchers hope these findings will help guide them as they seek out different approaches—including complementary—to help relieve pain, in light of an ongoing epidemic of prescription painkiller abuse. 

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America is a nation in pain, according to a new analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

How much pain, exactly?

More than 25 million American adults — about 11.2 percent — reported having pain every day for the previous three months. Researchers said the same data suggests that more than 23 million Americans felt “a lot” of pain in the preceding months, and more than 126 million — or more than half of all U.S. adults — reported experiencing some sort of pain during the same period.

The analysis, published in the Journal of Pain, is based on data from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey, an annual undertaking that asks thousands of Americans about their health- and illness-related experiences. The survey quizzed people about the frequency and intensity of pain they had experienced during the prior three months.

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This article excerpt, by Brady Dennis, originally appeared here: http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/nih-more-than-in-american-adults-experience-chronic-pain/article_59021448-3896-597c-a312-c74d52df5137.html.