'If pain is not addressed early, it can become a debilitating and costly condition. We know
that 3.24 million Australians experience chronic pain. Making even a small improvement in
early intervention can have a big impact on long term health outcomes for individuals, their
families, workplaces and communities', Painaustralia CEO Carol Bennett said.
Painaustralia has welcomed Labor's $115.6 million commitment to promoting health and
preventing many painful chronic conditions.
Chronic pain, also called persistent pain, is pain that continues for more than three months
and often has its inception in surgery, an injury, or as a result of disease or chronic condition
like arthritis or lower back pain.
"This funding commitment addresses a number of common risk factors that cause many
painful chronic conditions such as cancer, arthritis, asthma, back pain, cardiovascular
disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and mental health conditions," Painaustralia
CEO Carol Bennett said.
"Tackling these risk factors through prevention and early intervention is a vital step in
addressing the growing prevalence of chronic pain," Ms Bennett said.
Painaustralia's new report on the Cost of Pain in Australia highlighted that people living with
chronic pain also have other comorbid conditions, with over 44% also living with depression
and anxiety, 29.3% with arthritis and 25% with high blood pressure.
"Chronic pain can have a debilitating effect on a person's mood, physical functioning, and
social relationships. People living with chronic pain can also experience other conditions
along with chronic pain such as depression, sleep disturbance and fatigue," Ms Bennett
said.
These comorbidities often contribute to worse health, societal and financial outcomes – for
example, major depression in patients with chronic pain is associated with reduced
functioning, poorer treatment response, and increased health care costs. In 2018, this figure
was $73.2 billion in direct health, productivity and related costs and $66.1 billion in quality of
life costs totalling $139 billion.
"Strategies outlined in Labor's commitment today, such as a National Obesity Strategy, a
National Tobacco Campaign, a National Alcohol Strategy and a National Platform for
consumer information, can all play a very important role in reducing the burden of chronic
disease and together with that, the significant impact of chronic pain," Ms Bennett said.
