Health Care Utilization

Pain syndromes were diagnosed in more than 2.5 million children and adolescent health care visits in 2012, of which 66% (1.7 million) had a primary diagnosis of a pain syndrome. Less the 1% of children and adolescents with any pain syndrome diagnoses were hospitalized (20,800), while a tiny fraction (1,900) with a primary diagnosis had a hospital discharge. The majority of children and adolescents with a pain syndrome diagnosis were seen in physicians’ offices. (Reference Table 7.1.1 PDF [1] CSV [2] and Table 7.1.2 PDF [3] CSV [4])

Females were hospitalized with a pain syndrome diagnosis in slightly higher numbers than males, both for any diagnoses and as a primary diagnosis. Pain syndrome diagnoses increase as a contributing diagnosis in older children, but as a primary diagnosis age is not a factor.

Any diagnoses of pain syndrome accounted for just over 4% of hospitalizations for any musculoskeletal condition diagnosis, and 0.3% of all hospitalizations for any health care condition. Hospitalizations with a primary diagnosis pain syndrome were 0.4% of all musculoskeletal diagnoses and a tiny portion of hospitalizations for any health condition diagnosis. (Reference Table 7.11 PDF [5] CSV [6])