I read today about 110 million Americans have chronic pain, about 1/3 of the country. That is terrifying when you consider that we don’t have many effective pain drugs and surgery isn’t too reliable either for treatment from what I’ve read. I’ve heard of a lot of newer treatments like Botox, electronics to disrupt nerve signals etc but I don’t know how well they work.
I assume kids and young adults have low levels of chronic pain and it increases with age. I’ve also read women get it more than men, but I don’t know by how much more.
What % of the population has chronic pain when broken down into race, age, gender, income, career, etc? I’d assume blue collar workers get it more than white collar workers who work sedentary jobs. No idea if race plays a role.
Remember that ‘chronic’ pain is just pain that won’t go away. For many people this is just that persistent minor ache in the lower back or shoulder or wherever.
As for the demographics, I guess that every group you like to envisage will have chronic pain related to them. The elderly have arthritis and its associated problems; clerical workers have repetitive strain injury; truck drivers have back aches.
If one could class Dopers as a group, I wonder what their main problem would be - Cerebral fatigue; back ache from sitting too much in badly designed seats; RSI from all the googling?
There’s a psychological aspect to chronic pain sufferers, and certain personality types are more prone to report having chronic pain. I know we’re talking about different conditions, but I asked a question on these boards once about fibromyalgia and received some interesting responses.
I’d like to see a good definition of chronic pain; it seems a bit hard to swallow that 1 in 3 people in the country is living with chronic pain, unless the definition is a lot broader than what most people would think.
When I started it I thought I meant people who were in daily pain that didn’t respond well to treatment.
However I wonder if a big % of that 110 million figure includes people who have knee or back pain that is intermittent, and what % of people are able to control it until it is minor/not an issue.
Unfortunately, I can’t answer the overall question about the demographics, but it’s worth noting that essentially all 52 million sufferers of arthritis (that’s in the US) would have chronic pain according to the medical definition. That’s nearly half of the 110 million chronic pain sufferers right there.
However, let’s back up just a bit: Here’s an article that says the 1 in 3 number from the OP is incorrect. Native American Physical Characteristics: Learn About The Native Americans This article also goes into the origins of the 1 in 3 statistic, with an explanation of what definition it used for chronic pain. Some alternate numbers from that article are 39 million, 50 million and 70 million. (Which is basically admitting that there are a whole lot, by any definition).
That link does have some demographic info, but not very detailed.
I’m surprised whites had higher chronic pain. The fact that women, less educated people and older people had it wasn’t surprising but you’d assume non-whites would have it more due to higher rates of poverty, lack of healthcare, higher % who work in physically demanding jobs, etc.
That 39 million figure is for ‘persistent pain’, which would exclude people with joint pain, migranes, intermittent nerve pain, etc. I would still consider those people chronic pain suffers, despite them getting a respite now and then.
Also higher rates of poverty preclude going to expensive pain management doctors that require hoops the working poor can’t even abide like random time drug testing and stuff. Lack of healthcare is a no brainer, and I bet the rate of self medicating with alcohol is higher in physically demanding jobs(hell I know for a fact it is but I have no cite to provide).
According to this, 50% of independent living seniors and 75-85% of seniors living in care facilities (I assume that means assisted living and nursing homes) have chronic pain. I have no idea what counts as ‘older’, if it means 60+, 55+, 65+ or what. I’m going to assume 60+.
How easy is it to procure marijuana for pain sufferers? Assuming the state they live in has no legal program? (WTF is taking so long? But that’s best for a pit thread or GD)
I know this might sound like a naive question, but I seriously have no idea how I could even get a joint, however from what I have read, it is one of the most effective pain meds out there.
I wonder if folks are using this instead of alcohol or prescription drugs, and staying off the radar, so to speak, skewing the numbers even more.
By some definitions, I suffer from chronic pain. Not enought to do anything about it, just something I am aware of more or less constantly. A colleague of mine, maybe ten years older than me, once remarked that he knows he is still alive when he wakes up every morning and feels all his minor aches.
An Australian I knew had a morphine pump surgically installed in his back to deal with his constant back pain. If that’s what’s meant by chronic pain, then I am sure the actual numbers are much lower.
Pain, chronic and otherwise, is highly subjective, and when you try to statistically measure it, you have an opinion poll.
A community of farmers and miners is far less likely to report what they feel as “pain”, than a community of clerks and telemarketers. Any demographic variance in the incidence of pain will reflect that.
Go into any community and run a saturation ad campaign on TV for a treatment for chronic pain, and I guarantee you that there will be a statistical increase in the number of people who have chronic pain.
I seem to remember a recent thread in which it was claimed that doctors and nurses gave less pain medication to black patients than white ones. It is hard to chalk this up to white racism, since it appeared to be true even when the health care providers were themselves black. I wonder if this might be at work here in a way.
That is, that blacks who report chronic pain are dismissed or discounted by those to whom they report the pain. Thus, poor blacks would have less access to physicians, so they would have less chance to report chronic pain, and also those who did report it would not be believed as readily.
How often do you see the blurb of a coal miner, stoop laborer or steelworker celebrating their 100th birthdays with channel 16 news cameras rolling? There are far more teachers, homemakers, secretarys and attorneys reaching that age (or at least the ones that I see). If you die young, you are no longer in pain. That could also account for some of the shift toward more women reporting chronic pain as well.
Pain medication is so highly abused by all demographic groups that actually comming up with any accurate stats I think would be impossible. People will either lie, exagerate or imagine pain for the sake of getting medication. I seriously doubt even a rough estimate of those who actually have chronic pain bad enough to need meds could be established.
There is also the fact that groups trying to bring attention to chronic pain are agenda driven and are going to use as loose a definition of chronic pain as possible. There is a difference between constant pain that drives you to suicidal depression vs. occasional knee and back pain.
Yeah, I hope I’m still alive to hear the two of you when you get to be in that “Chronic pain demographic.”
I don’t complain much about my pain. My doctor badgers me about the amount of pain I must have from the x-rays he insists on getting, periodicly. He doesn’t actually recomend anything for the pain, he just knows I have it. N-SAIDs worked pretty well, but he took them away because he worried about my kidneys. (My kidney function is fine, was fine and likely will continue to be fine.)
I do have pain. I live in a state that has legalized marijuana. I eat a half to a one inch square brownie each night before I go to bed. It helps tremendously.
During the day, I neither complain nor change my routine, but the pain is, at times, exquisite.
My husband, on the other hand, is the biggest baby on the planet. There are times when I just want to laugh at his complaining.
I was a nurse for over 40 years and while not scientific, my experience tells me that men are much more likely to over state the amount of pain they experience.
After all, if men and women traded off experiencing child birth, no family would ever have more than three children. No man would go trough it a second time.
Yeah, as a man I’m such a baby that I toughed it out (back pain) through the family Christmas tonight and only broke down crying once I got to my car. :rolleyes: