Older people, women more likely to struggle on daily basis, researchers note
WebMD News from HealthDay
By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Oct. 30, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Almost one-fifth of Americans do daily battle with crippling, chronic pain, a large new survey reveals, with the elderly and women struggling the most.
The poll of roughly 35,000 American households provides the first snapshot of the pain landscape in the United States, the survey authors said.
The bottom line: Significant and debilitating pain that endures for three months or more is now a common feature in the lives of an estimated 39 million Americans.
"I wasn't particularly surprised by our findings," said study author Jae Kennedy, a professor of health policy and administration at Washington State University in Spokane. "But I found it sobering that so many American adults are grappling with persistent pain."
"Going forward, it will be important to track changes in rates of persistent pain within the U.S., and compare these rates to other countries with different health care systems," Kennedy said.
Kennedy and his colleagues report their findings in the October issue of the Journal of Pain.
To get a sense of the scale of the Americans' experience with pain, the study authors analyzed responses to a 2010 National Center for Health Statistics survey.
Those who said they had experienced serious continual pain during the prior three months were the focus of the poll, rather than participants who said they had experienced short-term pain or pain that was intermittent or moderate in nature.
The result: Overall, 19 percent of the adults polled were deemed to have experienced "chronic" and severe daily pain.
That grouping did not, for the most part, include adults who said they struggled with arthritis or back and joint pain, as those people tended to say their pain was not constant and persistent, the study authors noted.
That said, the chronic pain figure exceeded 19 percent among specific groups of respondents, including those between the ages of 60 and 69, women, those who said their health was fair or poor, those who were obese or overweight, and those who had been hospitalized in the prior year.
And among those with chronic pain, more than two-thirds said their pain was "constantly present," while more than half said their pain was at times "unbearable and excruciating."
That level of physical pain can prompt psychic pain, Kennedy noted.
"Being in pain is depressing," he said in a statement. "Being in pain all the time is tiring. Being in pain all the time is anxiety-provoking. So it's plausible that pain is triggering other kinds of more psychological distress."
Kennedy suggested that for those experiencing chronic, crippling pain there are a variety of potential interventions, including physical and occupational therapy, exercise, dietary changes, weight loss, massage and psychotherapy, alongside alternative interventions such as acupuncture, yoga and chiropractic services.
source : Almost 1 in 5 Americans Plagued by Constant Pain, Survey Suggests
