Why Children's Pain Matters
Health Canada’s Canadian Pain Taskforce report recognizes children as a population that is disproportionately impacted by pain, highlighted in the Canadian Pain Task Force 2021 Action Plan for Pain in Canada. Children often suffer from inadequately managed pain, leading to significant and potentially life-long negative consequences for their physical, mental, and social well-being.
“The doctors and nurses wouldn’t believe that the things they were doing, which they thought were no big deal, were actually horrifically painful.”
Parent
Children’s pain is a bigger problem than you may think.
- On average, children in Canadian hospitals experience 6 painful procedures per day; 14 in neonatal intensive care
- 2 of 3 procedures in hospital are performed without pain management
- 1 in 5 children have chronic pain (pain lasting months to years)
- 1 in 4 children develop chronic pain after major surgery
- Pain is the most frequent reason for emergency department visits
- Pain is prevalent across pediatric sub-specialties (e.g. emergency medicine, oncology, neonatology, rheumatology, etc.)
- Pain disproportionately impacts children from marginalized communities (e.g. Indigenous peoples, racialized peoples, immigrants, refugees, people with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, etc.)
Children’s pain can have significant, lasting consequences.
Pain not only hurts children in the moment, it comes with short- and long-term consequences that can last for days, months, or even a lifetime.
- Delayed healing
- Stress-related complications
- Pain sensitization
- Neurodevelopment issues
- Trauma
- Vaccination hesitancy and needle fear
- Healthcare avoidance
- Development of chronic pain
- Increased risk of depression, anxiety and suicidality
- Increased risk of harmful substance use
- Increased risk of socioeconomic disparities
Parents and health professionals are not supported.
- 75% of parents say they don’t know how to manage their children’s pain.
- Veterinarians get 5x more training in pain than people doctors do.
Canadian hospitals and healthcare systems are feeling pressure.
- Chronic pain costs Canada’s healthcare system $40B annually (children and adults).
- Chronic pain is one of the costliest pediatric chronic conditions, comparable to ADHD.
- Complications associated with pain and delayed healing contribute to longer hospital stays.
- Poor pediatric pain management is linked to health professional burnout, a key contributor of healthcare workforce turnover.
Canada’s kids aren’t doing well, but better pain care can help.
UNICEF Report Cards compare children’s health and well-being across high-income countries. There is a direct line between poorly managed pain and poor health and well-being outcomes for Canada’s kids.
- Chronic pain is a risk factor for first lifetime onset of suicidality. Canada ranked 33 of 42 countries in adolescent suicide rates, a leading cause of death in for adolescents in Canada (Report Card 19).
- Poorly managed needle pain and fear is a direct contributor to vaccine hesitancy. Canada Ranked 33 of 38 countries in child immunization rates for measles, a once-cured condition with increasing outbreaks across Canada (Report Card 16).
Help close the gap in children’s pain management
We have the evidence, the tools and the techniques to improve children’s pain management. You can help take action and raise awareness so that every child deserves quality pain care, every time, no matter the setting. Click here to learn more!