What Is CAPE?

The Consortium Against Pain InEquality (CAPE) is a project that brings together scientists, clinical researchers, pain specialists, epidemiologists, psychologists and people with lived experience of chronic pain to understand how adverse childhood experiences might lead to an increased vulnerability to chronic pain in adulthood. CAPE is part of the Advanced Pain Discovery Platform (APDP). People who experience chronic pain may face challenges in finding the right treatment. In many cases, this has a serious impact on their quality of life, but better understanding of the mechanisms of pain can lead to better treatment. CAPE aims to understand how adverse childhood experiences might contribute to future pain. Having a traumatic experience as a child – for example, abuse, neglect, violence, or deprivation – can have a lifelong impact on a person’s life. About half of us may endure at least one such experience, but research has found that people who report having several adverse childhood experiences are more likely to have health problems later in life. We will use an inclusive approach to bring together biological, psychological, social and cultural factors to understand the impact of adverse childhood experiences on chronic pain and how people respond to treatment.  CAPE’s aim is to improve our understanding of how adverse childhood experiences might lead to chronic pain in adulthood. Click here to read more about our research. Watch the video below to see a member of our public patient advisory group talk about CAPE.