America is a nation in pain.

• Position: National Health Survey

An analysis of data from the National Health Interview Survey--conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga., has found that most American adults have experienced some level of pain, from brief to more lasting, and from relatively minor to more severe.

The analysis helps to unravel the complexities of a nation in pain. It found that an estimated 25,300,000 adults (11.2%) had pain every day for the preceding three months. Nearly 40,000,000 experience severe levels of pain. Those with severe pain also are likely to have worse health status.

"The number of people who suffer from severe and lasting pain is striking," notes Josephine P. Briggs, director of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Bethesda, Md. "This analysis adds valuable new scope to our understanding of pain and could inform the National Pain Strategy in the areas of population research and disparities. It may help shape future research, development, and targeting of effective pain interventions, including complementary health approaches."

Pain is one of the leading reasons Americans turn to complementary health approaches such as yoga, massage, and meditation--which may help manage pain and other symptoms that are not addressed consistently by prescription drugs and other conventional treatments.

The NHIS is an annual study in which tens of thousands of Americans are interviewed about their health- and illness-related experiences. Among the findings of the analysis:

* An estimated 126,000,000 adults reported some type of...