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Chronic pain affects more than 10% of the population, almost half of whom report “considerable” pain. These researchers retrospectively analyzed death registries in 18 U.S. states to determine prevalence and characteristics of chronic pain in suicide deaths between 2003 and 2014.
Chronic pain was present in 9% of 123,000 people who died by suicide. The rate rose over time from 7% to 10%, while suicide rates from opioid overdose remained the same (2%). The most common medical conditions were back pain, cancer, and arthritis. Numerically, suicide decedents with pain were older, more likely to be female than those without pain and to have depression (82%; 75% in decedents without pain) or anxiety (19% and 10%), and less likely to have intimate …