Some 50 per cent of the economic cost associated with chronic
pain could be avoided if the problem
was prioritised by the health service, a world expert on
persistent pain has said.
Prof Michael Cousins, director of the department of anaesthesia
and pain medicine at the
University of Sydney, Australia, also said the relief of
persistent pain was a basic human right and
should be included in the UN Charter for Human Rights.
Prof Cousins, who is in Ireland to deliver a series of lectures
to health professionals, told The
Irish Times that persistent pain had recently been recognised
as a chronic disease in its own right
and not just a by-product of other diseases. There was now
research evidence to show that
the nervous system was damaged in patients with persistent
pain.
Chronic or persistent pain is defined as continuous, long-term
pain of more than 12 weeks duration
or pain that persists after healing would normally have
occurred after trauma or surgery.
It is estimated to affect almost one in five adults in Europe.
Prof Cousins said recent studies from the pain epidemiology unit
in his department had
shown that one in five Australians of working age experiences
persistent pain, while the condition
affects almost one in three older people. "Our data shows
that there is a high rate of disability
in this group and that the disability from persistent pain is
greater than that associated with
chronic cardiac failure," he said.
"The cost to the [Australian] economy is 36 million lost work
days each year in a population of
18 million people. The total cost, including healthcare and
employment related costs, is 30 billion
Australian dollars a year."Prof Cousins, who will address a
meeting of the Irish Pain Society
in UCD on Saturday, said a multimodal, interdisciplinary team
approach to treatment offered
the best outcomes.
An interdisciplinary pain research centre was opened yesterday at NUI Galway by college president Dr Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh. Co-directed by Dr Brian McGuire and Dr David Finn, it will carry out research into acute and persistent pain.