Pain Increases Fastest Before Age 55, Major Global Study Reveals

New research involving data from more than six million people worldwide has found that pain doesn’t simply increase steadily as we age. Instead, the sharpest rises happen well before most of us turn 55, a finding that could reshape how pain prevention is approached, in Australia and globally.

Why this matters for Australians

Chronic pain already affects a significant proportion of older Australians. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, chronic pain increases with age, reaching almost 1 in 4 Australians aged 85 and over. Separate research has found chronic pain prevalence as high as 51 per cent among Australians aged 65 to 74, rising to 55 per cent in those 85 and over, with a substantial economic cost to the country estimated at $139 billion, driven largely by reduced quality of life. Given how common pain already is in this age group, understanding exactly when and how it develops matters enormously, both for individuals and for how our health system plans ahead.

What the global research found

The study, published in Nature Medicine, analysed self-reported pain data collected between 1990 and 2025 from more than 6.1 million people aged 5 to over 100, across 118 countries and territories. Led by researchers Matt Fillingim and Etienne Vachon-Presseau, it’s one of the largest analyses of its kind ever conducted.

Pain prevalence varied enormously depending on where in the body it occurred, ranging from around 2 per cent for facial pain up to 40 per cent for back pain. Across every one of the 11 body areas studied, women reported higher pain prevalence than men, with the biggest gender gaps seen in facial pain, headaches, and stomach or abdominal pain.

The headline finding, though, was about timing. Across almost every body area studied, pain prevalence rose most sharply before age 55, rather than climbing steadily throughout life as commonly assumed. The specific pattern varied by location: headaches and abdominal pain tended to peak earlier in life, while back, hip and knee pain continued climbing well into older age.

A striking global inequality

Perhaps the most significant finding for public health policy was the stark difference in pain burden based on a country’s level of development. From age 40 onwards, pain anywhere in the body, as well as joint and back pain specifically, increased more rapidly in countries with lower Human Development Index scores. By age 80 and beyond, overall pain prevalence was around 31 percentage points higher in lower-development countries compared to higher-development ones, and low back pain specifically was nearly twice as common.

Strikingly, well-established risk factors like smoking, obesity and low income explained only part of this gap, leaving researchers genuinely uncertain about what’s driving the remaining difference in lower-development settings.

What this means going forward

The researchers suggest pain prevention may need to start considerably earlier in life than current approaches typically assume, and should be tailored specifically to different regions and populations, rather than applying a single, one-size-fits-all strategy globally.

It’s worth noting one limitation the researchers themselves flagged: most of the data was collected at a single point in time from different age groups, rather than tracking the same individuals as they aged, meaning the findings show differences between age groups rather than confirmed changes within the same people over time.

For Australians, the research reinforces something genuinely worth acting on earlier rather than later: pain prevention, through maintaining healthy weight, staying physically active, and addressing pain symptoms properly when they first appear, rather than waiting until later in life, may offer real, meaningful benefits well before you reach your 60s or 70s.

This article reports on research published in Nature Medicine and is general in nature. It isn’t personalised medical advice — if you’re experiencing persistent pain, speak with your GP about appropriate management and treatment options.

IMPORTANT LEGAL INFO This article is of a general nature and FYI only, because it doesn’t take into account your personal health requirements or existing medical conditions. That means it’s not personalised health advice and shouldn’t be relied upon as if it is. Before making a health-related decision, you should work out if the info is appropriate for your situation and get professional medical advice.