Chronic Pain

Data from the National Health Interview Survey

• In 2023, 24.3% of adults had chronic pain, and 8.5% of adults had chronic pain that frequently limited life or work activities (referred to as high-impact chronic pain) in the past 3 months.
• Chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain both increased with age.
• American Indian and Alaska Native non-Hispanic adults were significantly more likely to have chronic pain (30.7%) compared with Asian non-Hispanic (11.8%) and Hispanic (17.1%) adults.

• The percentage of adults with chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain increased with decreasing urbanization level.

The percentage of adults who had chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain in the past 3 months was higher in women than men.

Chronic pain and pain that often restricts life or work activities, referred to in this report as high-impact chronic pain, are the most common reasons adults seek medical care, and are associated with decreased quality of life , opioid misuse, increased anxiety and depression, and unmet mental health needs. In 2019, 20.4% of adults had chronic pain, and 7.4% of adults had high-impact chronic pain. This report uses data from the 2023 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to provide updated percentages of adults who experienced chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain in the past few months by selected demographic characteristics and urbanization level.

Data from the National Health Interview Survey

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db518.htm