Although pain is highly subjective, understanding the common underlying pathways that form an outline for pain perception holds clues to better control. The need is great, for despite a growing focus on alleviating pain, an unacceptably large number of people live with it chronically. According to the National Institutes of Health, 100 million people in the United States suffer from chronic pain, costing about $79 billion a year in care and lost work time. Certain painful conditions are endemic: 70% of those with cancer have pain, and 157 million US workdays are missed each year due to migraines. Globally, pain takes a huge toll. The World Health Organization (WHO) held a meeting on Oct. n, 2004, declaring it a Global Day Against Pain. At the meeting, the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) presented new data estimating that one in five people worldwide, at any given time, suffer from moderate to severe chronic pain. And the American Pain Foundation estimates that one in four patients with pain are undertreated. "We do not have the tools to adequately treat all chronic or acute pain," says Jeffrey A. Katz, associate director of the section for pain medicine at the Northwestern University Fein-bere School of Medicine in Chicago.
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机译：尽管疼痛是非常主观的，但了解构成疼痛感知概述的常见基本途径可提供更好控制的线索。需求很大，因为尽管人们越来越关注减轻疼痛，但仍有大量无法忍受的人长期忍受疼痛。根据美国国立卫生研究院（National Institutes of Health）的数据，美国有1亿人患有慢性疼痛，每年因护理和工作时间损失而花费的费用约为790亿美元。某些痛苦的疾病是地方性的：70％的癌症患者有疼痛，每年因偏头痛而错过的工作日为1.57亿个。在全球范围内，痛苦要付出巨大的代价。世界卫生组织（WHO）于2004年10月n举行了一次会议，宣布其为“全球止痛日”。在会议上，国际疼痛研究协会（IASP）提出了新的数据，估计在任何给定的时间，全世界有五分之一的人患有中度至重度慢性疼痛。美国疼痛基金会（American Pain Foundation）估计，四分之一的疼痛患者治疗不足。 “我们没有足够的工具来治疗所有慢性或急性疼痛，”位于芝加哥的西北大学芬伯里医学院的疼痛医学科副主任杰弗里·卡茨说。
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