Chronic Pain Assessment in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

This project is meant to more accurately and consistently assess chronic pain in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) via survey administration. Currently, accurate evaluation involving both clinical and psychological contributors to chronic pain are highly heterogeneous, and health care provider knowledge of these risk factors is sparse. We are looking for interested students to choose any LMIC of interest for survey work; IRB amendment would be all that is needed for modification of existing approved protocol. Funding would need to be acquired by the learner (with help of the PI) for travel/lodging/translation (if applicable), but this has generally been <$2500 and readily accessible by small institutional grants. Specific needs are for establishment of local infrastructure to continue surveys longitudinally; for actual survey administration in general population samples of 100 subjects; and for local training of health care providers to recognize chronic pain and its risk factors so that surveys can be administered longitudinally to assess change in practice. This has been easily accomplished with a one month commitment of time in the LMIC, with any collected data entered remotely into established redcap database. Statistical support is available in the department of anesthesiology for manuscript presentation. Furthermore, once data has been compiled for multiple countries, authorship on a large summary review can be expected.