The epidemiology of chronic pain in Libya: a cross-sectional telephone survey

Raga A. Elzahaf, Mark I. Johnson, Osama A. Tashani

Chronic pain is a public health problem although there is a paucity of prevalence data from countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of chronic pain and neuropathic pain in a sample of the general adult population in Libya. A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted before the onset of the Libyan Civil War (February 2011) on a sample of self-declared Libyans who had a landline telephone and were at least 18 years of age. Random sampling of household telephone number dialling was undertaken in three major cities and interviews conducted using an Arabic version of the Structured Telephone Interviews Questionnaire on Chronic Pain previously used to collect data in Europe. In addition, an Arabic version of S-LANSS was used. 1212 individuals were interviewed (response rate = 95.1 %, mean age = 37.8 ± 13.9 years, female = 54.6 %). The prevalence of chronic pain ≥ 3 months was 19.6 % (95 % CI 14.6 % to 24.6 %) with a mean ± SD duration of pain of 6 · 5 ± 5 · 7 years and a higher prevalence for women. The prevalence of neuropathic pain in the respondents reporting chronic pain was 19 · 7 % (95 % CI 14 · 6-24 · 7), equivalent to 3 · 9 % (95 % CI 2 · 8 to 5 · 0 %) of the general adult population. Only, 71 (29 · 8 %) of respondents reported that their pain was being adequately controlled. The prevalence of chronic pain in the general adult population of Libya was approximately 20 % and comparable with Europe and North America. This suggests that chronic pain is a public health problem in Libya. Risk factors are being a woman, advanced age and unemployment. There is a need for improved health policies in Libya to ensure that patients with chronic pain receive effective management.