APS Press Room

Media Backgrounder

 
For immediate release Contact: Chuck Weber
(847) 705-1802

The American Pain Society

The American Pain Society (APS) is a multidisciplinary organization of basic and clinical scientists, practicing clinicians, policy analysts and others who research and treat pain and advocate for patients with pain. The mission of APS is to advance pain-related research, education, treatment and professional practice.

Based in Glenview, Ill., APS was founded in 1978 with 510 charter members. From the outset, the group was conceived as a multidisciplinary organization. Since its early days, APS has enjoyed solid growth and today has some 3,500 members. The Board of Directors includes representatives from medicine, anesthesiology, nursing, psychology, health policy and basic science.

Through its various professional programs, APS seeks to educate and influence clinicians, policy makers and health insurance providers to optimize the treatment of acute and chronic pain.

What Is the Impact of Untreated and Undertreated Pain?

Pain is the leading public health problem in this country and the most common symptom that leads to medical care. It results in more than 50 million lost workdays each year.

The cost of pain, including medical bills and lost workdays, is estimated at $100 billion per year in the U.S. Back pain alone produces chronic disability in 1 percent of the U.S. population and is the leading cause of disability in Americans under 45 years old. As our population ages, the already significant problem of chronic pain in the elderly will increase. Today:

  • 40 million Americans have arthritis
  • More than 26 million Americans, ages 20 to 64, experience frequent back pain
  • Among cancer patients, it is estimated that 70% have significant pain during their illness, but fewer than half receive adequate treatment for their pain
  • More than 25 million Americans suffer migraine headaches
  • 20 million Americans have jaw and lower facial pain (TMD/TMJ) each year
  • Nearly 4 million Americans, mostly women, suffer from fibromyalgia, a complex condition involving widespread pain and other symptoms
  • Half of all hospitalized patients have moderate to severe pain in the last days of their lives.

Proper assessment of pain is crucial for effective treatment. In health care organizations, providers should view pain as the “Fifth Vital Sign” and assess it regularly, along with the other vital signs.

APS Clinical Practice Guidelines

Numerous APS committees, task forces and special interest groups address concerns and issues related to managed care, regulatory affairs, public policy, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, education and research. APS has published highly regarded guidelines for clinicians and patients (adults and children) for treating and managing pain associated with sickle cell disease, arthritis, cancer and fibromyalgia.

Advocacy

The American Pain Society has identified a broad agenda of pain issues and advocates in numerous arenas to improve the care of patients with pain. The society’s goals in this activity are to advance the care of people in pain by ensuring access to treatment, removing regulatory barriers, increasing funding for pain research and educating practitioners and policy makers in all settings about advances and economics of effective pain treatment.

APS and the Decade of Pain Control and Research

As the leading professional society in the field of pain management, the American Pain Society supports the Congressional mandate declaring the Decade of Pain Control and Research.

APS believes the key to better understanding pain and how to treat it most effectively is through pain research and increased professional and public understanding about pain and pain management. Accordingly, APS enthusiastically supports the Decade of Pain Control and Research in anticipation of furthering public awareness similar to what was achieved in the 1990s in the field of mental health through Decade of the Brain initiatives.

Decade of Pain initiatives sponsored by APS include:

Public Awareness: To enhance public awareness about pain and pain management, including the need to treat pain and increase public resources dedicated to the understanding and treatment of pain, APS has developed and implemented several programs:

Professional Awareness: To raise professional awareness to foster appropriate management of patients with pain through educational programs that change behavior.

Public Policy: To enact meaningful changes in federal policy and improve federal support for research related to chronic and end-of-life pain.

Pain Research: To further clinical and basic research on pain and its management during the Decade of Pain Control and Research.