Pete, Keith Meldrum @keith_meldrum & Joletta Belton 'In Conversation' 11th Oct 2026 In this In Conversation we discussed Pain Resilience Therapy. What is it and how useful could it be? - Audio on.soundcloud.com/eAW8jMZCFM… - Video youtu.be/Gwn0cvgsbvw #InspireSelfMgt

Happy to see this work published in the August issue of @TheJournal_Pain sciencedirect.com/science/ar… Using nationally representative data from 91,001 U.S. adults, I found that: ✒️Chronic pain prevalence increased from 20.5% in 2019 to 24.3% in 2023—nearly 1 in 4 adults. ✒️High-impact chronic pain increased from 7.5% to 8.5%. ✒️Chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain were strongly patterned by socioeconomic disadvantage, poor overall health, rheumatic conditions, anxiety and depressive symptoms, health care utilization, and cost-related barriers to care. One of the most striking findings was that people with chronic pain were not necessarily disconnected from the health care system: 92.5% had health insurance. 91.0% had a usual source of care. 90.7% had seen a physician within the past year. At the same time, chronic pain prevalence rose substantially with greater health care utilization-from 18.7% among adults with no emergency department visits to 56.5% among those with four or more visits. Why is this important? Having insurance and interacting with the health care system do not necessarily translate into timely, affordable, coordinated, or effective pain care. High utilization may be a marker of unresolved needs rather than adequate treatment. These findings suggest that the opportunity to improve pain care is already present within routine clinical encounters-but realizing it will require greater attention to affordability, continuity, coordination, and access to multidisciplinary, evidence-based care. A special shoutout to Alison McGuire with the GW iMPACT team for creating this compelling artwork embodying that central finding: many Americans living with chronic pain are insured and actively engaging with the health care system, yet substantial unmet needs remain. I'm grateful to everyone who contributed to this work and hopeful that these findings can support more equitable screening, care planning, and pain-management strategies. #ChronicPain #PainResearch #PublicHealth