Chronic Pain and High-impact Chronic Pain in U.S. Adults, 2023.

Introduction: This report uses data from the 2023 National Health Interview Survey to provide updated percentages of adults who experienced chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain in the past 3 months by selected demographic characteristics and urbanization level.

Methods: Point estimates and corresponding confidence intervals for this analysis were calculated using SAS-callable SUDAAN software to account for the complex sample design of the National Health Interview Survey. Differences between percentages were evaluated using two-sided significance tests at the 0.05 level. Linear and quadratic trends by age group and urbanization level were evaluated using orthogonal polynomials.

Key findings: In 2023, 24.3% of adults had chronic pain, and 8.5% of adults had high impact chronic pain in the past 3 months. 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.