New study finds high rates of persistent chronic pain among U.S. adults

LOS ANGELES, May 16 (Xinhua) -- New cases of chronic pain occur more often among U.S. adults than new cases of several other common conditions, including diabetes, depression, and high blood pressure, according to a new study published on Tuesday.

The study of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that the rate of chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain (HICP) among adults is approximately 21 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

Chronic pain is pain that is experienced on most days or every day in the past three months; and HICP is pain that limits life or work activities on most days or every day during the past three months, according to the NIH.

The links between the widespread burden of chronic pain and the country's opioid epidemic underscore the urgency to understand and address the issue of pain, said the study.

"Understanding incidence, beyond overall prevalence, is critical to understanding how chronic pain manifests and evolves over time. These data on pain progression stress the need for increased use of multimodal, multidisciplinary interventions able to change the course of pain and improve outcomes for people," said Richard Nahin, lead author and lead epidemiologist at the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at the NIH.