Raising Awareness on the Clinical and Social Relevance of Adequate Chronic Pain Care

Silvia Natoli; Alessandro Vittori; Marco Cascella; Massimo Innamorato; Gabriele Finco; Antonino Giarratano; Franco Marinangeli; Arturo Cuomo

doi:10.3390/ijerph20010551

Raising Awareness on the Clinical and Social Relevance of Adequate Chronic Pain Care

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 29;20(1):551. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20010551.

Authors

Silvia Natoli^{1

2}, Alessandro Vittori³, Marco Cascella⁴, Massimo Innamorato⁵, Gabriele Finco^{6

7}, Antonino Giarratano^{8

9}, Franco Marinangeli¹⁰, Arturo Cuomo⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Science and Translational Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 00133 Roma, Italy.
² IRCCS Maugeri, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
³ Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, ARCO Roma, Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù, IRCCS, 00165 Rome, Italy.
⁴ Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, Istituto Nazionale Tumori-IRCCS, Fondazione Pascale, 80131 Naples, Italy.
⁵ Department of Neuroscience, Pain Unit, Santa Maria delle Croci Hospital, AUSL Romagna, 48121 Ravenna, Italy.
⁶ Intensive Care Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Cagliari, 09042 Monserrato, Italy.
⁷ Department of Medical Sciences and Public Health, University of Cagliari, 09042 Monserrato, Italy.
⁸ Department of Surgical, Oncological, and Oral Science (Di.Chir.On.S.), University of Palermo, 90133 Palermo, Italy.
⁹ Department of Anesthesia, Intensive Care and Emergency, Policlinico Paolo Giaccone, 90127 Palermo, Italy.
¹⁰ Department of Anesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain Treatment, University of L'Aquila, 67100 L'Aquila, Italy.

Abstract

Appropriate pain care should be regarded as a right and effectively guaranteed to people with chronic pain (CP). Law 38, enacted in Italy in 2010, establishes the citizen's right not to suffer. Twelve years later, such right appears still disregarded in Italy and the current access to adequate pain care reveals significant shortcomings. In addition, a mismatch between CP-associated burden and the available healthcare resources in the framework of our national health system has been observed. This article gathers the perspectives of a Board of Italian anesthesiologists on the state of the art of CP management in Italy and aims at strengthening the scientific rationale and clinical relevance of pursuing the enforceability of the right not to suffer and at promoting widespread multidisciplinary care of patients with CP.

Keywords: care pathways; chronic pain; pain management; pain therapy network; right enforceability.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anesthesiologists
Chronic Pain* / therapy
Humans
Italy
Long-Term Care

Grants and funding

This work was carried out thanks to an unrestricted grant from Grünenthal Italia S.r.l. which was given the opportunity to review the manuscript for medical and scientific accuracy and intellectual property considerations.