Pain and Income: Among Adults With a Lot of Pain, the Poorest Hurt Most Often (2016–2017)

For U.S. adults who have a lot of pain, how often it comes depends strongly on income. In the 2016–2017 National Health Interview Survey, among adults who reported pain and said their last episode was "a lot," the share who had it on most or every day fell steadily as family income rose — and the share who had it only on some days rose.

Adults 18 and older reporting a lot of pain, by how often and by family income, age-adjusted, 2016–2017. CDC.

How it was measured

• How much pain: "Thinking about the last time you had pain, how much pain did you have? Would you say a little, a lot, or somewhere in between?"
• How often: "In the past 3 months, how often did you have pain? Would you say never, some days, most days, or every day?" — "most days" and "every day" were combined.
• Income is family income as a percentage of the Census Bureau's poverty threshold, which varies with family size and the number of children; missing incomes were imputed.
• Estimates are age-adjusted to the 2000 standard population, from household interviews of noninstitutionalized civilian adults in the survey's Functioning and Disability component.

About 12.2% of adults below 200% of the poverty threshold, 13.2% between 200% and 400%, and 14.8% above 400% said they had no pain at all in the past 3 months.

Sources

Based on "QuickStats: Age-Adjusted Percentage of Adults Aged ≥18 Years Reporting a Lot of Pain, Among Those Who Report Pain on at Least Some Days in the Past 3 Months, by Poverty Status and Frequency of Pain — National Health Interview Survey, 2016–2017," MMWR Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report volume 68, number 19, reported by Nazik Elgaddal, Julie D. Weeks and Cynthia Reuben, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.