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Chronic Pain In America: Roadblocks To Relief
Summary of Findings
Parameters Of Moderate To Severe Chronic Pain
- How severe their pain is.
- Extent their pain is under control.
- Time it takes to get pain under control.
- Impact of pain on their quality of life and emotional well-being.
- Reaction of others to their pain.
CHRONIC PAIN SUFFERERS HAVE A SERIOUS HEALTH PROBLEM. THE MAJORITY HAVE PAIN THAT IS MORE LIKELY TO BE SEVERE OR VERY SEVERE RATHER THAN MODERATE AND IS THE TYPE THAT FLARES UP FREQUENTLY; THEY HAVE HAD THEIR PAIN FOR MANY YEARS AND FEEL THEIR PAIN ON AVERAGE 6 OUT OF 7 DAYS A WEEK.
"Using a 1 to 10 scale where 1 means no pain at all and 10 means the worst pain imaginable, how severe would you say your pain is?" (SQ. 3) "How long have you been experiencing that pain?" (SQ 2) "Which one of the following statements best describes your pain?" (Q. 1) "Do you feel your pain today?" (Q. 2a) "On about how many of the past 7 days have you felt your pain?" (Q. 2b).
Base: All chronic pain sufferers.
| Severity (# of points) | Total % |
|---|---|
| Moderate (5 or 6) | 43 |
| Severe (7) | 23 |
| Very Severe (8, 9 or 10) | 34 |
| Length of time had pain | |
| 6 months to 1 year | 10 |
| Over 1 year to 5 years | 34 |
| Over 5 years | 56 |
| Type of pain | |
| Flares up frequently | 61 |
| Constant | 39 |
| Frequency | |
| Feeling it today | 78 |
| Past 7 days mean | 5.7 |
THE MORE SEVERE THEIR PAIN, THE MORE LIKELY IT IS TO BE CONSTANT RATHER THAN FLARING UP FREQUENTLY, TO BE A LONG TIME PROBLEM AND LESS LIKELY TO BE CAUSED BY ARTHRITIS.
Base: All chronic pain sufferers.
| -----Severity of Pain Now----- | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total % | Moderate % | Severe % | Very Severe % | |
| Type of pain | ||||
| Flares up frequently | 61 | 77 | 57 | 45 |
| Constant | 39 | 23 | 43 | 55 |
| Frequency | ||||
| Feeling it today | 78 | 71 | 81 | 84 |
| Past 7 days mean | 5.7 | 5.2 | 5.9 | 6.2 |
| Length of time experiencing pain | ||||
| 6 months to 1 year | 10 | 14 | 9 | 7 |
| Over 1 year to 5 years | 34 | 37 | 38 | 26 |
| Over 5 years | 56 | 49 | 53 | 67 |
| Nature/cause of pain | ||||
| Arthritis | 37 | 45 | 33 | 31 |
| Back pain | 27 | 25 | 26 | 30 |
| Other | 31 | 26 | 36 | 34 |
55% OF CHRONIC PAIN SUFFERERS SAY THEY HAVE THEIR PAIN UNDER CONTROL; BUT, HAVING PAIN UNDER CONTROL VARIES INVERSELY WITH THE SEVERITY OF THE PAIN - ONLY 39% OF THOSE WITH VERY SEVERE PAIN SAY THEY HAVE IT UNDER CONTROL VERSUS 70% OF THOSE WITH MODERATE PAIN. IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT CONTROL DOES NOT VARY SIGNIFICANTLY BY AGE OR SEX OF THE SUFFERER.
"Using a 1 to 10 scale where 1 means no pain at all and 10 means the worst pain imaginable, how severe would you say your pain is?"(Q. S3) "Is your pain pretty much under control now, or not?" (Q. 3a)
Base: All chronic pain sufferers.
| -----Severity of Pain Now----- | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total % | Moderate % | Severe % | Very Severe % | |
| Have pain under control | 55 | 70 | 51 | 39 |
| Do not have pain under control | 41 | 26 | 46 | 58 |
| Don't know | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
IT TAKES TIME TO GET CHRONIC PAIN UNDER CONTROL. AMONG THOSE HAVING THEIR PAIN UNDER CONTROL, IT TOOK THE MAJORITY AT LEAST 6 MONTHS TO REACH THAT POINT. HOWEVER, THE MORE SEVERE THE PAIN THE LONGER IT TAKES TO GET IT UNDER CONTROL; IT TOOK AT LEAST 6 MONTHS FOR ALMOST 70% OF THOSE WITH VERY SEVERE PAIN TO REACH THAT POINT VERSUS JUST OVER HALF OF THOSE WITH MODERATE PAIN.
"About how long did it take to reach a point where you had your pain pretty much under control?" (Q. 3b)
Base: All chronic pain sufferers saying their pain is pretty much under control.
| -----Severity of Pain Now----- | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total % | Moderate % | Severe % | Very Severe % | |
| Less than 3 months | 23 | 30 | 13 | 19 |
| 3 to 5 months | 11 | 13 | 12 | 6 |
| 6 months to 1 year | 21 | 19 | 20 | 24 |
| Over 1 year | 38 | 28 | 44 | 46 |
| Don't know | 7 | 6 | 11 | 6 |
PAIN CAN BECOME MORE ACUTE EVEN WHEN IT IS UNDER CONTROL; 40% OF CURRENT VERY SEVERE CASES WERE PREVIOUSLY MODERATE OR SEVERE. THE SHIFT AMONG CURRENT SEVERE CASES IS A 'WASH' WITH ALMOST JUST AS MANY CASES BECOMING LESS ACUTE THAN MORE ACUTE. THE GREATEST SUCCESS STORY IS AMONG CURRENT MODERATE PAIN CASES WHERE ALMOST ONE HALF ARE NOW LESS SEVERE.
"Using a 1 to 10 scale where 1 means no pain at all and 10 means the worst pain imaginable, how severe would you say your pain was before you reached a point before it was pretty much under control?" (Q. 3c)
Base: All chronic pain sufferers saying their pain is pretty much under control.
| -----Severity of Pain Now----- | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total % | Moderate % | Severe % | Very Severe % | |
| Severity before it was under control | ||||
| Moderate or less | 41 | 49 | 37 | 24 |
| Severe | 16 | 14 | 19 | 16 |
| Very severe | 41 | 35 | 42 | 58 |
THE QUALITY OF LIFE HAS IMPROVED SIGNIFICANTLY AMONG THOSE WHO HAVE THEIR PAIN UNDER CONTROL.
"For each of the following activities, please tell me whether you could do it all the time, some of the time or never before your pain was pretty much under control?" (Q. 3d) "For each of the following activities, please tell me whether you can do it right now all the time, some of the time or never because of your pain?" (Q. 19)
Base: All chronic pain sufferers saying their pain is pretty much under control. All chronic pain sufferers saying their pain is not pretty much under control. Percent saying they can not do it all the time.
| ---Pretty much under control--- | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before % | After % | Point Diff. # | Not under Control % | |
| Exercising | 81 | 70 | +11 | 81 |
| Sleeping | 73 | 59 | +14 | 79 |
| Doing chores at home | 71 | 50 | +21 | 65 |
| Doing usual hobbies/leisure activities | 71 | 52 | +19 | 67 |
| Participating in social activities | 70 | 51 | +19 | 65 |
| Walking | 61 | 49 | +12 | 59 |
| Concentrating | 59 | 35 | +24 | 49 |
| Having sex | 58 | 45 | +13 | 54 |
| Maintaining relationships with family/friends | 42 | 23 | +19 | 31 |
| Doing full days work at job | 41 | 28 | +13 | 41 |
| Caring for your children | 23 | 16 | +7 | 20 |
WHEN PAIN IS UNDER CONTROL, THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT POSITIVE IMPROVEMENT IN A CHRONIC PAIN SUFFERER'S EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING.
"How did you feel before your pain was pretty much under control?" (Q. 3e) "How do you feel emotionally now?" (Q. 20)
Base: All chronic pain sufferers saying their pain is pretty much under control. All chronic pain sufferers saying their pain is not pretty much under control.
| ---Pretty much under control--- | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (a) Before % | (b) After % | Change (b-a) # | Pain Not Controlled % | |
| Somewhat positive about life | 71 | 89 | +18 | 81 |
| Irritable, cranky | 65 | 22 | -43 | 35 |
| Depressed | 45 | 13 | -32 | 25 |
| Happy, upbeat | 41 | 84 | +43 | 66 |
| Listless | 40 | 11 | -29 | 27 |
| Useless/worthless | 28 | 7 | -21 | 18 |
| Unable to cope | 20 | 7 | -13 | 11 |
WHETHER OR NOT PAIN IS UNDER CONTROL, VERY SEVERE PAIN STILL HAS A MAJOR NEGATIVE IMPACT ON QUALITY OF LIFE.
"For each of the following activities, please tell me whether you can do it right now all the time, some of the time or never because of your pain?" (Q. 19)
Base: All chronic pain sufferers. Percent saying they can not do it all the time right now (some of the time/never).
| -----Severity of Pain Now----- | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total % | Moderate % | Severe % | Very Severe % | |
| Exercising | 75 | 68 | 82 | 80 |
| Sleeping | 68 | 56 | 76 | 79 |
| Doing usual hobbies/leisure activities | 59 | 51 | 65 | 66 |
| Participating in social activities | 58 | 47 | 61 | 69 |
| Doing chores at home | 57 | 44 | 60 | 70 |
| Walking | 53 | 44 | 57 | 64 |
| Having sex | 50 | 44 | 47 | 58 |
| Concentrating | 42 | 35 | 42 | 50 |
| Maintaining relationships with family/friends | 26 | 19 | 30 | 35 |
| Doing full days work at job | 34 | 27 | 32 | 46 |
| Care for children | 17 | 16 | 18 | 20 |
WHETHER OR NOT PAIN IS UNDER CONTROL, VERY SEVERE PAIN STILL HAS A MAJOR NEGATIVE IMPACT ON A CHRONIC PAIN SUFFERER'S EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING.
"How do you feel emotionally now?" (Q. 20)
Base: All chronic pain sufferers.
| -----Severity of Pain Now----- | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total % | Moderate % | Severe % | Very Severe % | |
| Somewhat positive about life | 85 | 88 | 87 | 81 |
| Happy, upbeat | 76 | 84 | 71 | 68 |
| Irritable, cranky | 27 | 20 | 29 | 35 |
| Depressed | 18 | 12 | 20 | 25 |
| Listless | 18 | 12 | 20 | 25 |
| Useless/worthless | 12 | 8 | 8 | 19 |
| Unable to cope | 9 | 6 | 7 | 13 |
CHRONIC PAIN SUFFERERS PERCEIVE POSITIVE AND HELPFUL SUPPORT FROM THE PEOPLE MOST IMPORTANT TO THEM; HOWEVER, EMPLOYERS ARE NOT AS SUPPORTIVE AS CLOSE FAMILY AND FRIENDS OR DOCTORS.
"Different people can have different reactions to your pain such as your employer, family, friends or doctor. What is (PERSONS) reaction to your pain?" (Q. 22)
Base: All chronic pain sufferers.
| Closest Family Member % | Closest Friend % | Employer % | Doctor % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very understanding | 87 | 89 | 64 | 87 |
| Supportive, ask how they can help | 78 | 75 | 48 | 63 |
| Say you are handling it well | 75 | 81 | 60 | 76 |
| Help with your chores/tasks | 69 | 49 | 26 | 8 |
| Encourage you to do things, take your mind off your pain | 57 | 61 | 38 | 53 |
| Are tired of hearing it from you | 18 | 8 | 9 | 4 |
| Don't understand at all what its like | 16 | 13 | 19 | 10 |
| Should be stoic, stop complaining | 11 | 5 | 11 | 4 |
| Ignore your concerns/complaints | 11 | 7 | 15 | 5 |
| Get angry with you | 10 | 3 | 7 | 2 |
| Its all in your mind/imagining it | 7 | 4 | 6 | 5 |
| You're milking it for all its worth | 5 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| Using drugs as a crutch | 2 | 1 | * | 1 |
| Becoming addicted to drugs | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |