SIAARTI recommendations for chronic noncancer pain.

Abstract

The Nuprin Pain Report reported that 20.8 millions of Americans experienced pain for at least 101 days in the year preceding the survey.1 The prevalence of chronic pain in general population ranges, in different studies, from 7%2 and 55%.3 These differences reflect the different methods, definitions, and other problems that contribute to generate some misunderstanding in the clinical evaluation of chronic pain. Some studies showed that in the United Kingdom the low back pain is the cause of 45 millions lost work days,4 while other studies showed the heavy impact of chronic pain on general health, on daily activities, on work tasks, and on economic resources.5, 6 Patients with chronic pain are 5 times as likely as those without chronic pain to use health care services. Fifty-eight percent of chronic pain patients present adverse psychological consequences, in particular depression and anxiety.7 In the last decades, clinical evaluation of