US Seniors Surveyed On Pain Relief

2 July 1997

Around 20% of Americans aged over 60, or 7.5 million people, regularlytake medication to treat chronic pain, according to a Louis Harris poll conducted on behalf of the National Council of the Aging, underwritten by an educational grant from Ortho-McNeil.

Almost 40% of those polled said doctors do not tell them of possible side effects of prescription pain medication, and 50% said they do not warn them about possible drug interactions. Older Americans who take pain-relief medications are more likely to suffer from arthritis (44%), bone and joint pain (31%) and low back pain (16%) than any other type of pain.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen are the most commonly-used prescription drugs for treating the leading causes of pain. 18% of those polled took NSAIDS to treat pain, 10% took propoxyphenes, 5% took codeine derivatives such as hydrocone and 5% took codeine combined with aspirin or acetaminophen. Over 70% of seniors said they took over-the-counter pain relievers, the most popular being acetaminophen (63%), nonprescription NSAIDS (37%) and aspirin (33%).

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