Delivering transformative action in paediatric pain

Christopher Eccleston, Emma Fisher, Richard F. Howard, Rebeccah Slater, Paula Forgeron, Tonya M. Palermo, Kathryn Birnie, Brian J. Anderson, Christine T. Chambers, Geert Crombez, Gustaf Ljungman, Isabel Jordan, Zachary Jordan, Catriona Roberts, Neil Schechter, Christine Sieberg, Dick Tibboel, Suellen M. Walker, Dominic Wilkinson, Chantal Wood

OAI: oai:purehost.bath.ac.uk:publications/a278b244-57b4-47d6-b2f5-ade37c4164f5 • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30277-7

Every infant, child, and adolescent will experience pain at times throughout their life. Childhood pain ranges from acute to chronic, and includes procedural, disease-related, breakthrough, and other types of pain. Despite its ubiquity, pain is a major challenge for individuals, families, health-care professionals, and societies. As a private mental experience, pain is often hidden and can go undiscussed or ignored. Undertreated, unrecognised, or poorly managed pain in childhood leads to important and long-lasting negative consequences that continue into adulthood, including continued chronic pain, disability, and distress. This undertreatment of pain should not continue, as there are available tools, expertise, and evidence to provide better treatment for childhood pain.