The Epidemic of Chronic Pain

October 2013
THE EPIDEMIC OF CHRONIC PAIN
UNM Health Sciences Center
Joanna G. Katzman, MD, MSPH
Associate Professor, UNM School of Medicine
University of New Mexico
Director UNM Pain Center and Project ECHO Pain Program

Problem——————————-Number Affected, Costs

Chronic Pain————————–100 million, $635 billion
Diabetes——————————-17.5 million, $174 billion
Cancer———————————11.7 million, $264 billion
Heart disease, stroke,
congestive heart failure————-27.1 million, $197 billion

Prevalence of Addiction in Chronic Pain Patients:

•Structured review of available studies of development of aberrant behavior/addiction in patients on opioids for chronic pain.
•24 studies with 2,057 patients with rate of 3.27% for abuse/addiction.
•Rate of abuse/addiction in patients with no past or current SUD was 0.19%
•Fishbain DA. Pain Med. 2008;9:444-58.