This resource list was originally complied by Katrina Becker at The Mayday Fund in July 1997 and sent to PainLink by Fenella Rouse, executive director of The Mayday Fund (edited and updated by PainLink staff in January, 1999).

Arthritis Pain

Back Pain

Twenty-six million people suffered from more than 31 days of backache in the previous year (1984). (Source: The Nuprin Report, 1985.)

Of persons reporting back pain, 11.7 million are "impaired" by back pain and 2.6 million are permanently disabled by back pain. (Source: American Chronic Pain Association, "Facts About Chronic Pain" [see end Notes for complete list of sources for this fact sheet].)

Low back pain affects 31 million adults at any given time. (Source: American Chronic Pain Association, "Facts About Chronic Pain," Louis Harris and Associates survey for Business and Health Magazine, June 1996.)

In 1984, a Harris survey revealed that 56 percent of Americans suffered from backaches in the previous year. (Source: R. Sternbach, Survey of pain in the U.S.: The Nuprin Report, Clinical Journal of Pain, 2:4, 1986.)

Chronic Pain

An estimated 40 million Americans suffer from chronic long-lasting pain caused by lower back pain, arthritis, cancer, repetitive stress injuries, migraine headaches, fibromyagsia, and other conditions. (Source: John LaRosa, In press release "Pain Management Clinics. A Market Analysis," Market Data Enterprises, Inc., 1997.)

More then 50 million Americans are partially or fully disabled by pain. (Source: American Chronic Pain Association, "Facts About Chronic Pain" [see End Notes for complete list of sources for this fact sheet].)

About 34 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. (Source: U.S. News and World Report, March 17, 1997, pp. 54-67.)

For people over 60, 250 out of 1,000 experience chronic pain: for people under 60 125 out of 1,000 experience chronic pain. (Source: Crook, Rideout, and Browne, 1984.)

More than 120 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. (Source: The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 20, 1996, section B-1.)

Headache Pain

Twenty-seven percent of pain sufferers experience chronic migraine headaches. (Source: Louis Harris and Associates, Inc., The McNeil Pharmaceutical National Pain Survey, fieldwork 1994.)

More than 45 million Americans get chronic, recurring headaches. Between sixteen and eighteen million people suffer from migraines. (Source: National Headache Foundation)

There are 25 million migraine patients in the United States. (Source: American Chronic Pain Association, "Facts About Chronic Pain" [See End Notes for complete list of sources for this fact sheet].)

In 1984, a Harris survey revealed that seventy-eight percent of Americans suffer from one or more headaches per year. (Source: R. Sternback, Survey of pain in the U.S.: The Nuprin Report, Clinical Journal of Pain, 2:4, 1996.)

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In 1984, a Harris survey revealed that 53 percent of Americans suffered from muscle pain in the last year. (Source: R. Sternbach, Survey of pain in the U.S.: The Nuprin report, Clinical Journal of Pain, 2:4, 1986.)

In 1984, a Harris survey revealed that 51 percent of Americans suffered from joint pain in the last year. (Source: R. Sternbach, Survey of pain in the U.S.: The Nuprin report, Clinical Journal of Pain, 2:4, 1986.)

In 1984, a Harris survey revealed that 46 percent of Americans have experienced stomach pains in the last year. (Source: R. Sternbach, Survey of pain in the U.S.: The Nuprin report, Clinical Journal of Pain, 2:4, 1986.)

In 1984, a Harris survey revealed that 46 percent of American woman have experienced premenstrual pain in the last year. (Source: R. Sternbach, Survey of pain in the U.S.: The Nuprin report, Clinical Journal of Pain, 2:4, 1986.)

Of the 60,000-72,000 people who suffer from sickle cell disease 10 percent suffered from three or more painful attacks and 80 percent suffered from less than three painful attacks . (Source: National Institutes of Health, Sickle Cell Disease Branch.)

After surgery, 40 to 60 percent of children experienced pain. (Source: Hester, Foster, Kristensen, and Rergstrom, 1989; Johnson, Jeans, Abbot, Grey-Donald, and Edgar, 1988; Mather and Mackie, 1983.)

Of Americans diagnosed with cancer 30 to 40 percent experience moderate to severe pain, (2,400,000 to 3,200,000 Americans). (Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, "Management of Cancer Pain," Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, p. 7, 1982.)

Two hundred fifty thousand American women suffer from vulvar pain each year. (Source: Estimate by Vulvar Pain Foundation.)

Of the 850,000 who people suffer from shingles, 250,000 experience severe pain, while the rest usually experience some pain. As many as 28,000 people in the United States suffer from painful postherpetic neuralgia. However, using English figures that 235,000 people have shingles it can be estimated that more than 1 million people in the United States have shingles. (Source, Smith, Kline, Beecham Marketing study; Richard T. Perkin of VZV Research Foundation.)

End Notes
Sources for the fact sheet are as follows: Dennis Turk, Ph.D., Pain Evaluation and Treatment Institute, Presbyterian-University Hospital, Pittsburgh PA, 1989; National Institute of Neurological Communicative Disorders and Stroke, 1979; Vital Statistics, 1974; Paully and Haskell, 1975; American Arthritis Foundation, 1976; Advertising Council, 1979.

Editor's Note
Because survey data were collected by different research organizations, at different times, data on specific types of pain may conflict.

Last Updated: April 18, 2000