|
Abstract
|
There are >100 million global refugees according to the United Nations, 44% of whom have experienced torture. 1
The USA is the highest recipient of asylum applications, and healthcare providers there and in other resource-rich nations are increasingly likely to see refugee patients in their clinical practices. We previously found that 85% of torture survivors experience chronic somatic pain, such as brachial plexopathy from upper extremity suspension or lumbosacral plexus injury from leg hyperextension; however, this pain was most frequently misdiagnosed by providers as a manifestation of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder (MDD), or psychosomatisation. 3
Several gaps remain in our understanding of pain after torture, such as whether this pain accords with the mechanism of injury. Moreover, the long-term morbidity of torture-related somatic pain has not been characterised, and evidence-based treatments are lacking. We conducted an analysis of chronic somatic pain after torture to define the concordance of pain with mechanism of injury, and to identify prevalence and modalities of treatment for this pain.
Language: en |