Prevalence of chronic pain in a representative sample in the United States.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Chronic pain is a common reason for seeking medical care. We estimated the prevalence of chronic regional and widespread pain in the United States population overall, and by age, sex, and race/ethnicity. SETTING: We examined the data from 10,291 respondents who participated in the 1999-2002 NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) and completed a pain questionnaire. Items allowed classification of chronic (>or=3 months) pain as regional or widespread. We used regression models to test the association of sex and race/ethnicity with each pain outcome, adjusting for age. RESULTS: Chronic pain prevalence estimates were 10.1% for back pain, 7.1% for pain in the legs/feet, 4.1% for pain in the arms/hands, and 3.5% for headache. Chronic regional and widespread pain were reported by 11.0% and 3.6% of respondents, respectively. Women had higher odds than men for headache, abdominal pain, and chronic widespread pain. Mexican-Americans had lower odds compared with non-Hispanic whites and blacks for chronic back pain, legs/feet pain, arms/hands pain, and regional and widespread pain. CONCLUSION: The population prevalence of chronic pain in the United States was lower than previously reported, with smaller sex-related differences and some variation by race/ethnicity.
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Chronic lower back pain (CLBP) is a significant public health problem.
“In sum, CLBP is a significant public health problem.”
From An Online Self-help CBT Intervention for Chronic Lower Back Pain (2012) · cites this paper as [2]
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- Authors
- Hardt, J., Jacobsen, C., Goldberg, J., Nickel, R., & Buchwald, D.
- Affiliations
- Düsseldorf University Hospital (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Hardt, Jochen
- Venue
- Pain Medicine
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2008-10
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 803-812
- ISSN
- 1526-2375 (ISSN-L)
- 1526-4637
- OpenAlex
- W2069426265
- Cited by
- 324
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 35 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 9.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Pain Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Pain Mechanisms and Treatments
- Keywords
- chronic pain, prevalence, widespread pain, regional pain, back pain, headache, abdominal pain, sex differences, racial and ethnic differences, Mexican Americans, NHANES
- MeSH terms
- Female, Humans, Male, Pain, Risk Factors, United States, Prevalence, Risk Assessment
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