By Will Dunham Tue Mar 18, 2:44 AM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A surprising number of people — more than 60 percent — still suffer significant pain a year after a traumatic injury in a car crash or other cause, showing the need for better pain treatment, researchers said. In a study published on Monday in the journal Archives of Surgery, researchers tracked 3,047 patients ages 18 to 84 from 14 U.S. states who survived an acute traumatic injury.A year after the injury, 63 percent reported that they still experienced pain related to the injury, with most having pain in more than one region of the body.
On average, the patients assessed their pain at 5.5 on a 10-point scale — a level at which they would be expected to have moderate to severe interference with daily activities.
