USA's IoM calls for change in attitude on pain and its management

Every year, at least 116 million adult Americans experience chronic pain, a condition that costs the nation hundreds of billion dollars annually, says a new report from the USA’s Institute of Medicine. Much of this pain is preventable or could be better managed, added the committee that wrote the report. The study was mandated by Congress and sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.

The committee called for coordinated, national efforts of public and private organizations to create a cultural transformation in how the nation understands and approaches pain management and prevention. Some of the recommended changes can be implemented by the end of 2012 while others should be in place by 2015 and maintained as ongoing efforts.

"Given the large number of people who experience pain and the enormous cost in terms of both dollars and the suffering experienced by individuals and their families, it is clear that pain is a major public health problem in America," said committee chairman Philip Pizzo, dean, Carl and Elizabeth Naumann Professor of Pediatrics, and professor of microbiology and immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California. "All too often, prevention and treatment of pain are delayed, inaccessible, or inadequate. Patients, health care providers, and our society need to overcome misperceptions and biases about pain. We have effective tools and services to tackle the many factors that influence pain and we need to apply them expeditiously through an integrated approach tailored to each patient," he added.