MELVILLE, N.Y. • Persistent pain that lasts weeks to years is an overlooked medical problem that affects more than 116 million people nationwide and to be the focus of a public health campaign, doctors said in an article published Thursday.

Physicians reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine cited a long list of concerns, including lack of access to pain-management specialists and inadequate consumer education about pain treatment, that they believe is causing people to suffer needlessly.

Authors of the report are calling on the medical community to educate more doctors capable of effectively treating people experiencing long-term, intractable pain.

"That's like 1 in 3 Americans in pain, and that estimate is not far off the mark, based on what I am seeing," said Dr. Brian Durkin, director of the Center for Pain Management at Stony Brook University Medical Center.

"It's a little shocking when you think about 1 out of 3 people being in pain. But I am getting calls every day," added Durkin. "People are not looking for narcotics; they're looking for pain relief."

Dr. Philip Pizzo, dean of Stanford University's medical school, authored the journal report, which is based on research he led last year as chairman of an Institute of Medicine panel. The institute is the health division of the National Academy of Sciences and is chartered by Congress to investigate pressing health concerns.

Pizzo said round-the-clock acute and chronic pain affects adults and children, and that there is misunderstanding and insensitivity about persistent pain by physicians and the public.

With fewer than 4,000 pain specialists nationwide, Pizzo said it's time for primary care physicians to step up and help address what he calls a nationwide epidemic.

Durkin said about 50 million people undergo surgery annually in the United States, and many of those patients account for those in acute pain.

The vast number of people who make up the millions in long-term discomfort generally suffer from persistent headaches, and neck and lower-back pain, he said.

Dr. Lewis Nelson, an emergency medicine specialist and clinical toxicologist at NYU Medical Center said he doesn't buy the estimate. He also doesn't think there's a shortage of pain-management specialists.

"If there is so much pain, why are we just now finding out about it? Why weren't people in pain 25 years ago?" Nelson asked. "Why is this problem cropping up in the 2010s?"