全球智库信息集成服务系统

Pain is the leading cause of disability and reduced readiness for duty in the U.S. military

• Musculoskeletal conditions and injuries are the most prevalent source of chronic pain for service members and can reduce service members' medical readiness and performance.
• Conditions that are frequently comorbid with chronic pain, such as traumatic brain injury and behavioral health disorders, can complicate patients' experiences of chronic pain and providers' approaches to pain treatment.
• Most research on the impact of pain on readiness has not clearly distinguished between acute and chronic pain, but existing evidence indicates that chronic pain compromises functioning and readiness to a greater degree across the force.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the MHS have invested in research and adopted evidence-based clinical approaches to treating chronic pain, but quality measurement is essential to monitoring effectiveness

• In response to emerging evidence, DoD and the MHS have emphasized multimodal, multidisciplinary, stepped treatment for chronic pain that prioritizes nonpharmacologic therapies and non-opioid pain medications.
• MHS administrative data could provide valuable understanding of the characteristics of the population of service members with chronic pain, the factors that influence their treatment, and the quality of care they receive for chronic pain.

Chronic pain affects between 31 and 44 percent of active-duty service members and is a leading cause of disability and reduced readiness. Providing high-quality chronic pain care to U.S. military personnel and supporting research to guide chronic pain care quality improvement efforts are priorities for the Military Health System (MHS). MHS administrative data, which capture service members' health care utilization, are an important resource and are already being used to support research and quality improvement initiatives. There are, however, considerable challenges to using these data to accurately measure the prevalence of chronic pain and the quality of chronic pain care provided to service members.

RAND researchers explored how MHS administrative data can be used to assess the prevalence and treatment of chronic pain, and to track improvements in chronic pain care for individual service members and medical readiness across the force.

• Skip to page content

Objective Analysis. Effective Solutions.