The DOI matches its Crossref record; 11 of the 11 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Neuropathic pain in the general population: A systematic review of epidemiological studies
Open accessAbstract
Most patients with neuropathic pain symptoms present and are managed in primary care, with only a minority being referred for specialist clinical assessment and diagnoses. Previous reviews have focused mainly on specific neuropathic pain conditions based in specialist settings. This is the first systematic review of epidemiological studies of neuropathic pain in the general population. Electronic databases were searched from January 1966 to December 2012, and studies were included where the main focus was on neuropathic pain prevalence and/or incidence, either as part of a specific neuropathic pain-related condition or as a global entity in the general population. We excluded studies in which data were extracted from pain or other specialist clinics or focusing on specific population subgroups. Twenty-one articles were identified and underwent quality assessment and data extraction. Included studies differed in 3 main ways: method of data retrieval, case ascertainment tool used, and presentation of prevalence/incidence rates. This heterogeneity precluded any meta-analysis. We categorised comparable incidence and prevalence rates into 2 main subgroups: (1) chronic pain with neuropathic characteristics (range 3-17%), and (2) neuropathic pain associated with a specific condition, including postherpetic neuralgia (3.9-42.0/100,000 person-years [PY]), trigeminal neuralgia (12.6-28.9/100,000 PY), painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (15.3-72.3/100,000 PY), glossopharyngeal neuralgia (0.2-0.4/100,000 PY). These differences highlight the importance of a standardised approach for identifying neuropathic pain in future epidemiological studies. A best estimate of population prevalence of pain with neuropathic characteristics is likely to lie between 6.9% and 10%.
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“where estimates range from 7% to 10% (Baskozos et al. 2023; van Hecke et al. 2014).”
From The Prevalence of Neuropathic Pain in Multiple Sclerosis—A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis Using the NeuPSIG Algorithm (2026) · cites this paper as van Hecke et al. 2014
In the citing paper
“The main findings support this assumption by presenting an overall prevalence of neuropathic pain of 22.3% (95% CI: 17.3; 27.3) in pwMS, which is substantially higher than the 7%–10% observed in the general population (Baskozos et al. 2023; van Hecke et al. 2014).”
From The Prevalence of Neuropathic Pain in Multiple Sclerosis—A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis Using the NeuPSIG Algorithm (2026) · cites this paper as van Hecke et al. 2014
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Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: the PRISMA statement
Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & for the PRISMA Group (2009) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.b2535 · Cited by 83,823
Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: The PRISMA statement
Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & the PRISMA Group* (2009) · Annals of Internal Medicine · doi:10.7326/0003-4819-151-4-200908180-00135 · Cited by 37,554
von Elm, E., Altman, D. G., Egger, M., Pocock, S. J., Gøtzsche, P. C., Vandenbroucke, J. P., & Initiative, F. T. S. (2007) · PLoS Medicine · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040296 · Cited by 23,020
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement
Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., & Altman, D. G. (2009) · Journal of Clinical Epidemiology · doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2009.06.005 · Cited by 19,575
von Elm, E., Altman, D. G., Egger, M., Pocock, S. J., Gøtzsche, P. C., Vandenbroucke, J. P., & Initiative, F. T. S. (2007) · Annals of Internal Medicine · doi:10.7326/0003-4819-147-8-200710160-00010 · Cited by 17,796
von Elm, E., Altman, D. G., Egger, M., Pocock, S. J., Gøtzsche, P. C., Vandenbroucke, J. P., & Initiative, F. T. S. (2007) · Bulletin of the World Health Organization · doi:10.2471/blt.07.045120 · Cited by 1,632
NeuPSIG guidelines on neuropathic pain assessment
Haanpää, M., Attal, N., Backonja, M., Baron, R., Bennett, M., Bouhassira, D., Cruccu, G., Hansson, P., Haythornthwaite, J. A., Iannetti, G. D., et al. (2011) · Pain · doi:10.1016/j.pain.2010.07.031 · Cited by 1,060
Self-citationMacDonald, B. K. (2000) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/123.4.665 · Cited by 858 · cited 3×
“…3 28.2 per 100,000 PY Hall et al. (2008) 3 42.0 per 100,000 PY Jih et al. (2009) 1 3.9 per 100,000 PY Koopman et al. (2009) 2 11.0/100,000/year MacDonald et al. (2000) 1 0.007%/population/year Choo et al. (1997) 2 0.009%/population/year Opstelten et al. (2002) 1 0.024%/population/year§ Pierik…”
InfluentialNeuropathic pain in the community: more under-treated than refractory?
Torrance, N., Ferguson, J. A., Afolabi, E., Bennett, M. I., Serpell, M. G., Dunn, K. M., & Smith, B. H. (2013) · Pain · doi:10.1016/j.pain.2012.12.022 · Cited by 188
Self-citationBennett, M. I., Smith, B. H., Torrance, N., & Lee, A. J. (2006) · Pain · doi:10.1016/j.pain.2006.02.002 · Cited by 169
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Cited by
The IASP classification of chronic pain for ICD-11: chronic neuropathic pain
Scholz, J., Finnerup, N. B., Attal, N., Aziz, Q., Baron, R., Bennett, M. I., Benoliel, R., Cohen, M., Cruccu, G., Davis, K. D., et al. (2019) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001365 · Cited by 1,171
Self-citationAllodynia and hyperalgesia in neuropathic pain: clinical manifestations and mechanisms
Jensen, T. S., & Finnerup, N. B. (2014) · The Lancet Neurology · doi:10.1016/s1474-4422(14)70102-4 · Cited by 976
Gabapentin for chronic neuropathic pain in adults
Wiffen, P. J., Derry, S., Bell, R. F., Rice, A. S., Tölle, T. R., Phillips, T., & Moore, R. A. (2017) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd007938.pub4 · Cited by 561
Pain and the global burden of disease
Rice, A. S. C., Smith, B. H., & Blyth, F. M. (2016) · Pain · doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000454 · Cited by 498
Self-citationThe neuropathic pain: An overview of the current treatment and future therapeutic approaches
Cavalli, E., Mammana, S., Nicoletti, F., Bramanti, P., & Mazzon, E. (2019) · International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology · doi:10.1177/2058738419838383 · Cited by 499
Metadata
- Authors
- van Hecke, O., Austin, S. K., Khan, R. A., Smith, B. H., & Torrance, N.
- Venue
- Pain
- Published
- 2014-04
- Volume
- 155
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 654-662
- ISSN
- 0304-3959 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2127894556
- Cited by
- 1,602
- References
- 11
- FWCI
- 5.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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