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- One in five people in Europe live with pain, for one in eleven it is a fact of daily life.
- Acute Visceral pain – pain which comes from the inner organs – is second only to trauma as the reason that patients visit emergency rooms in hospitals.
- The first “European Year against Pain” is dedicated to bringing attention to an area of pain affecting almost everyone during some part of their lives.
What: Press Briefing
Where: Press Club Brussels Europe, 95, rue Froissart, 1040 Brussels
When: Friday, 12 October 2012, 10:00 – 11:00
Who:
- Prof Dr Hans Georg KRESS, MD, PhD (Vienna), President of the European Federation of IASP Chapters (EFIC): The European Year against Pain: The challenge of chronic pain to Europe’s health policy makers
- Dr Chris WELLS (Liverpool), President elect of the European Federation of IASP Chapters (EFIC): Raising awareness for the “silent epidemic” visceral pain
- Jacqueline Riley, patient: Pain has been my constant companion
In the 27 EU countries, 100 million people are affected by chronic pain 28 million suffering severe pain – but many of them receive inadequate or no treatment. The social costs of chronic pain are enormous: According to a survey, 19% of patients with moderate or severe pain have lost their jobs, 60% have consulted their doctors between two and nine times in the last six months.
Visceral pain – pain which comes from the inner organs – is second only to trauma as the reason why patients visit emergency rooms in hospitals. Women report it three times more often than men. The condition is often diffuse and poorly localizable; many chronic visceral pain sufferers are not adequately diagnosed and treated.
The European Federation of IASP® Chapters (EFIC®), a multidisciplinary professional organisation in the field of pain research and medicine, will launch, in October, for the first time the “European Year against Pain” (EYAP). The yearly campaign is dedicated to increase public awareness of the challenges of chronic pain. This European Year against Pain will highlight the difficult problems related to visceral pain, uniting patient support groups, doctors and researchers to improve the recognition and treatment of these multiple conditions.
