OBJECTIVES: <span">Pain is a major global healthcare problem, with pain-related disorders ranking among the most common acute and chronic conditions.Patient outcomes and healthcare resource use associated with the management of acute pain have significant implications for primary care. A rapid literature review was conducted for the purpose of modelling patient outcomes and resource use in the treatment of acute pain. METHODS: Targeted literature searches were conducted in Embase, Medline, Econlit and EBM Reviews using the OVID search engine. The search strategies were developed to identify publications reporting the following: (i) cost-effectiveness models assessing the management of pain, (ii) the relative efficacy and tolerability of Step 2 analgesics (iii) relevant health state utility values. Unstructured literature searches were also conducted where additional evidence was needed to populate the model. RESULTS: Search (i) identified three articles describing health economic models in acute pain. All of the models described in these articles considered measures of pain relief achieved, and two considered adverse events. Two of the models used a decision tree structure, while the remaining model used a Markov approach. Model time horizons varied between 3 and 10 days. Search (ii) identified two sources for relative treatment effects of acute pain treatments. The most common metric for effectiveness was a 50% reduction in pain score. The most commonly reported adverse events were nausea and vomiting and central nervous system events. Search (iii) did not identify any relevant publications for utility values for acute pain, but an unstructured literature search identified utility values for chronic pain. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the high prevalence of acute pain, the current literature lacks sufficient data to confidently model the economic impact of this condition. Further research is needed to develop comparative data of efficacy, tolerability and patient utility to inform resource allocation decisions in this area of significant primary care resource use.