Chronic pain and associated factors in Maputo, Mozambique: a pilot study

Abstract

Introduction: Studies estimate that 20% of adults suffer from chronic pain. A meta-analysis in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) found 34% had chronic pain. There are few studies on pain prevalence gathered in Africa. This study surveyed the capital city of Mozambique. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study employed in a community setting. The Vanderbilt Global Pain Survey comprised questions on the behaviour and attitudes of respondents regarding pain, including previously validated metrics: the Pain Catastrophizing Scale, the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule, the Brief Pain Inventory, Widespread Pain Index and Symptom Severity Score, and the Michigan Body Map. Results: Ninety-seven surveys were completed out of 100. Pain every day lasting for more than 6 months in their lifetime was reported as 39.2% (CI: 29.4-49.6), and 52% of respondents had pain the day of the interview. However, the pain resulted in little difficulty with activities of daily living and maintaining relationships (61%-89%). Although none reported mental health disorders, 53.6% had experienced a traumatic event in their life, with 45.2% having related nightmares, anxiety, or fear. Most respondents (99%) would take oral medication if it helped their pain, with a large proportion willing to spend significant money for these (49% would pay >US$40) and willing to travel long distances to get help (55.2% would travel >40 kilometer). Conclusion: The prevalence of chronic pain in Maputo, Mozambique is similar to the average for LMICs. Trends in high-income countries suggest that multimodal pain management and multidisciplinary treatments may improve optimal pain control in LMICs.

Paediatric chronic pain prevalence in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Our group has developed such a tool for adults in LMICs (the Vanderbilt Global Pain Survey, or VGPS), but to our knowledge no such tool exists for paediatric populations in LMICs. 59,60 Although the included studies represent 20 LMICs, 61% of the studies came from Europe or Latin America, whereas Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for only 9%. There is a disproportionate number of studies from Brazil and Turkey, which are both classified as upper-middle income by the World Bank.…”

“…Our group has developed such a tool for adults in LMICs (the Vanderbilt Global Pain Survey, or VGPS), but to our knowledge no such tool exists for paediatric populations in LMICs. 59 , 60…”

Systems analysis and improvement approach to optimize outpatient mental health treatment cascades in Mozambique (SAIA-MH): study protocol for a cluster randomized trial

“…In the original WHO validation study across 19 countries (9 LMICs) the test-retest reliability had an intra-class coefficient of 0.98, the total Cronbach’s alpha ( n = 1565 across 19 countries) was 0.98 and also 0.98 for MH patients [ 46 , 49 ]. The WHODAS 2.0 has been used extensively in LMICs [ 46 – 50 ], shows good performance among diverse MH diagnoses [ 51 – 53 ], has been applied successfully in Mozambique in previous studies [ 50 ], including our pilot study, and has been extensively applied in LMICs (including Sub-Saharan Africa) to evaluate functional improvement in pragmatic MH trials [ 54 – 59 ]. Primary study outcomes will be sourced from a census of individual-level patient records from outpatient routine care, which will also be used to populate the MHCAT tool.…”