Pain-related disabilities, 2022
Description: Pain-related disabilities, 2022
In 2022, 16.7% of Canadians (or 4.9 million individuals) aged 15 years and over had a pain-related disability.Note 1
Pain-related disabilities were more prevalent with age:
- 15 to 24 years (6.7%)
- 25 to 44 years (11.0%)
- 45 to 64 years (19.5%)
- 65 years and over (27.6%)
Women+ (19.3%) were more likely than men+ (13.9%) to have a pain-related disability.Note 2
Of those who had a pain-related disability…
- 6% had persistent pain
- 28% had recurring pain
- 63% had both recurring and persistent pain
- 3% did not specify
Most common activities for which persons with pain-related disabilities received help
- Heavy household chores (e.g., yard work, snow removal or spring cleaning) (36%)
- Everyday housework (e.g., dusting or tidying up) (29%)
- Getting to appointments or running errands (28%)
Around 2.2 million Canadians with a pain-related disability considered themselves housebound
Most common reasons for being housebound
- The condition or health problem fluctuates (61%)
- The condition or health problem is aggravated when they go out (44%)
- Restricted mobility (43%)
16% of those with a pain-related disability reported an unmet need for prescription medication due to cost
Those with more severe pain-related disabilities were more likely to have unmet needs for prescription medication (21%) than those with less severe pain-related disabilities (12%).
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Survey on Disability, 2022.
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