Pain Medicine News - American Pain Society President: Budget Cuts Not Only Reason for Underfunded Pain Research

New Orleans—Pain research in the United States is severely underfunded, despite the fact that chronic pain costs the economy more than $600 billion annually in medical expenses and lost productivity. Although the 5% cut to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget across the board is partly to blame, it is not the only contributing factor, according to Roger B. Fillingim, PhD, professor, College of Dentistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, and director of the university's Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence. Dr. Fillingim, who also is president of the American Pain Society (APS), spoke with Pain Medicine News at the annual scientific meeting of the APS, and provided insight and recommendations on how to address this health issue that affects an estimated one in three Americans. Here is an abridged version of the discussion.PMN: Apart from the cut in federal funding, what are other reasons for the lack of financial support for pain research?Roger B. Fillingim, PhDProfessor, College of DentistryUniversity of FloridaGainesville, FloridaDr. Fillingim: Part of it is, I think, a historical view that pain is simply a symptom of another thing; fix that other thing and the pain will go away. So [the view is] we don't have to fund pain research; [instead] we can fund cancer research and if we cure the cancer, any pain that may have been associated with it will be taken care of. Or the same thing for arthritis or whatever other condition p...
Source: Psychology of Pain - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs