Painful statistics for Americans

Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released the results of their annual health survey of Americans. In the CDC Press Release, lead study author Amy Bernstein states that the study focused on pain issues because "'the associated costs of pain are posing a great burden on the health care system, and because there are great disparities among different population groups in terms of who suffer from pain.'" Here are some of the survey study findings on pain:

More than one-quarter of adults interviewed said they had experienced low back pain in the past three months.

Fifteen percent of adults experienced migraine or severe headache in the past three months. Adults ages 18-44 were almost three times as likely as adults 65 and older to report migraines or severe headaches.

Reports of severe joint pain increased with age, and women reported severely painful joints more often than men (10 percent versus 7 percent).

Between the periods 1988-94 and 1999-2002, the percentage of adults who took a narcotic drug to alleviate pain in the past month rose from 3.2 percent to 4.2 percent.