Acute and chronic pain affects large numbers of Americans, with approximately 100 million U.S. adults burdened by chronic pain alone. The annual national economic cost associated with chronic pain is estimated to be $560-635 billion.
Pain is a uniquely individual and subjective experience that depends on a variety of biological, psychological, and social factors, and different population groups experience pain differentially.
For many patients, treatment of pain is inadequate not just because of uncertain diagnoses and societal stigma, but also because of shortcomings in the availability of effective treatments and inadequate patient and clinician knowledge about the best ways to manage pain.
Some answers will come from exciting new research opportunities, but changes in the care system also will be needed in order for patients’ pain journeys to be shorter and more successful. In the committee’s view, addressing the nation’s enormous burden of pain will require a cultural transformation in the way pain is understood, assessed, and treated. This report provides recommendations intended to help achieve this transformation.
Visit http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13172&page=R1 to read the report online or to download a free PDF.