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Review
. 2022 Dec 29;20(1):551.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph20010551.

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

Silvia Natoli  1   2 , Alessandro Vittori  3 , Marco Cascella  4 , Massimo Innamorato  5 , Gabriele Finco  6   7 , Antonino Giarratano  8   9 , Franco Marinangeli  10 , Arturo Cuomo  4
Affiliations
Review

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

Silvia Natoli et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

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.

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Conflict of interest statement

S.N. in the last two years received honoraria as a speaker directly or indirectly from Grünenthal Italia, Boston Scientific, Laborest. M.C. received honoraria from Grünenthal Italia, Angelini, Molteni. A.V., A.C., A.G., G.F., M.I. and F.M. have nothing to declare.

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