Chronic primary pain: Navigating a new diagnostic entity

Abstract

Historically, pain has been viewed as a symptom of disease, rather than a disease state itself. In 2018, the World Health Organization released the International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision (ICD- 11), and for the first time a systematic coding system for chronic pain was incorporated. This new classification introduced the term chronic primary pain (CPP), defined as pain not better accounted for by an underlying condition and associated with significant functional impairment or distress. Now, for the first time CPP has been recognised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence as a condition in its own right. This article aims to explore the definitions, diagnosis, and management of CPP and how this may be translated into day-to-day primary care practice.