China is expected to establish 1,000 county-level chronic pain management centers to improve treatment for the vast number of people living with chronic pain, experts said.

More than 300 million people in China live with chronic pain, and the number is increasing by 10 to 20 million a year, according to China's Pain Medicine Development Report (2020).

As China's population ages, the burden of chronic pain continues to grow, making it a major public health concern. Chronic pain has become a major health problem after cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and cancers, said Fan Bifa, director of the pain department at China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing.

Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists or recurs for more than three months. Common types include neck pain, shoulder pain, lower back pain, leg pain, neuropathic pain, cancer-related pain, migraine, osteoarthritis-related pain and persistent postoperative pain.

Fan stressed that chronic pain is not merely a symptom accompanying other illnesses, but an independent disease that can lead to serious consequences, including depression, anxiety, insomnia and drug dependence. These conditions can adversely affect patients' quality of life, mental health, ability to work and social interactions.

The World Health Organization has recognized pain as the "fifth vital sign", alongside blood pressure, respiration, pulse and body temperature.

"Pain is actually an alerting sign. However, many people still don't take it seriously and may endure it for a long time until their condition deteriorates," Fan said.

Nearly 80 percent of chronic pain patients nationwide receive chronic disease management services from county-level and primary medical institutions. However, significant gaps remain in pain awareness, identification, early screening and treatment, with many patients lacking access to standardized therapy and long-term care.

To address these challenges, the China National Health Development Research Center and China-Japan Friendship Hospital launched a program in 2024 to establish a county-level chronic pain management network. So far, 25 pilot sites have been set up across 16 provinces and municipalities, including Jiexi county in Guangdong province, Jiangyou, a county-level city in Sichuan province and Anning in Yunnan province.

"Significant progress has been achieved in pain management," Fan said, noting that the pilot sites have introduced standardized treatment procedures, established clean treatment rooms and equipped themselves with professional medical personnel. More than 100,000 patients have received treatment at these sites, he added.

The hospital has also proposed a national standardized training platform for pain diagnosis and treatment to strengthen the skills of doctors at the grassroots level.

Fan said the ultimate goal is to establish a network of pain management services within 15-minute reach of patients, enabling them to "access standardized, high-quality pain care close to home".

In recent years, the National Health Commission and other authorities have issued a pilot work plan for comprehensive pain management, calling for the gradual expansion of comprehensive pain management services and improvements in diagnostic and treatment capabilities, as well as relevant technical standards.

Pain medicine in China has made steady progress in recent years, with increasingly diverse treatment options, including medication, physical rehabilitation, minimally invasive interventional procedures and psychological counseling. However, challenges remain in pain diagnosis and treatment.

Han Jisheng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and honorary director of Peking University's Neuroscience Research Institute, called for high-quality medical resources to be directed toward primary medical institutions to strengthen their capacity for early pain identification and standardized management.

He also stressed the importance of raising public awareness through science-based education.

Global Day Against Pain falls on the third Monday of October. This year, the International Association for the Study of Pain has selected neuropathic pain as the theme. The period from Monday to Sunday is observed as China Week Against Pain.

Neuropathic pain accounts for about 20 percent of chronic pain cases and includes conditions such as trigeminal neuralgia, sciatica and postherpetic neuralgia, according to Fan.