A recent research letter links chronic pain and opioid use by U.S. soldiers. The survey included soldiers who recently returned home from deployment, with 44 percent reporting chronic pain and 15.1 percent reporting recent use of opioid pain relievers.

The extent of chronic pain and opioid use linked to deployment is not well known, despite the large numbers of wounded soldiers. Authors of the research study looked at how widespread chronic pain and opioid use was after deployment in active-duty infantry soldiers who were not seeking treatment.

A large percentage of the 2,597 participants in the survey were men ages 18 to 24 years old. Participants were generally high school-educated and married, and of junior enlisted rank. Almost half of the participants, or 45.4 percent, reported combat-related injuries. The reported past-month opiod use by soldiers was 15.1 percent, with 5.6 percent of those responding reporting no pain during the past month. Additionally, 38.5 percent, 37.7 percent, and 18.2 percent reported mild, moderate, and severe pain, respectively.

Approximately 44 percent of soldiers reported chronic pain. Of these individuals, 48.3 reported pain lasting a year or more, while 55.6 percent reported almost daily or constant pain, while 51.2 percent reported having moderate to severe pain and 23.2 percent reported using opioids within the past month.

The study authors said in a statement, “While chronic pain and opioid use have been a long-standing concern of the military leadership, this study is among the first to quantify the impact of recent wars on the prevalence of pain and narcotic use among soldiers.” They continued, “The nation’s defense rests on the comprehensive fitness of its service members – mind, body and spirit. Chronic pain and use of opioids carry the risk of functional impairment of America’s fighting force.”

According to webmd.com, opioids are frequently used to reduce moderate to severe chronic pain.