Chronic Overlapping Pain Conditions (COPCs) come at a high cost – to individuals affected by them and their loved ones, our health care system, payers and the U.S. economy at large. Cost studies, which estimate a condition’s impact on our nation’s health and economy, have been published for each of the conditions. However, one cannot simply total these figures to determine the cumulative cost of COPCs, as there is variable overlap among conditions.

One of CPRA’s legislative and research priorities is to advance population health studies on the shared prevalence of COPCs and the economic impact of having multiple conditions on individuals, health care systems, payers and the U.S. economy.

Studies conducted to date have provided the following estimates of the annual U.S. economic impact of COPCs:

• Vulvodynia:  $31-72 billion
• Temporomandibular Disorders:  $32 billion
• Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: $32 billion
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome: $380 billion
• Interstitial Cystitis / Painful Bladder Syndrome: $22 billion
• Fibromyalgia: $20 billion
• Endometriosis: $22 billion
• Migraine:  $17 billion
• Chronic Tension-Type Headache:  unknown
• Chronic Low Back Pain:  $100 billion (“low back pain”)