One in seven hospital patients in Africa suffers severe pain, UCT study finds

A hospital stay is meant to bring relief, but for thousands of patients across Africa, it can also mean enduring severe pain. A study has found one in seven hospital patients experienced severe pain, while two-thirds reported some level of pain.

The study, led by researchers at the University of Cape Town (UCT), has found 67.9% of adults admitted to hospitals across Africa experienced some level of pain, while 14.4% reported severe pain, defined as a score of seven or more out of 10.

Researchers studied 19,438 patients in 180 hospitals across 22 African countries between September and December 2023. The patients were followed up for seven days to determine whether they survived or died in hospital.

The findings, published in the journal PAIN , provide what the researchers describe as the first large-scale evidence of the burden of acute pain among hospitalised patients across Africa.