News: CDC reports that chronic pain rose significantly in last few years

According to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, chronic pain affects nearly one in four United States adults, and that percentage has risen noticeably in recent years. In 2023, 24.3% of U.S. adults had chronic pain that lasted three months or longer. In comparison, that percentage was 20.9% in 2021, and 20.4% in 2016, MedPage Today reported.

The CDC's National Center for Health Statistics conducts a cross-sectional poll with the same methodology and questions every year to gather this data. The data also showed that 8.5% of U.S. adults had high-impact chronic pain, which is pain severe enough to restrict daily activities.

“What is clear is we have an astounding and growing public health crisis of chronic pain," said Sean Mackey, MD, PhD, of Stanford School of Medicine in Palo Alto, California, who was a co-author of the CDC's analysis of chronic pain prevalence in 2016. “This crisis touches everyone and requires a broader public health approach to reverse this concerning trend.”

Mackey told MedPage Today that several reasons may account for this rise in chronic pain, including a growing proportion of older adults, the healthcare access delays and mental health challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, changes in pain management guidelines that have followed the U.S. opioid crisis, and growing prevalence of economic disparities, reduced access to healthcare, and environmental factors in rural or non-metropolitan areas.

Editor’s note: To read MedPage Today’s coverage of this story, click here. To read the CDC report, click here.