Onyeka Tonia C, Chukwuneke Felix N
Department of Anaesthesia/Pain and Palliative Care Unit, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, UNTH, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu, PMB 11029, Nigeria,
J Anesth. 2014 Aug;28(4):511-6. doi: 10.1007/s00540-013-1767-5. Epub 2013 Dec 28.
Over the years, a trend for very low numbers of scientific publications from Africa has emerged. There has been no evaluation of pain research publications from this region. This study was conducted to determine the African pain research spectrum over the last 10 years, to identify trends in the number of publications from different countries, to identify currently underexplored areas of pain research, and to stimulate renewed interest in quality pain research in Nigeria and Africa.
The English- and non-English-language medical literature on pain from July 2002 to May 2012 was studied using Medline, the Ovid database, and by performing hand searches of relevant references using Google. Publications on pain by Africans and/or non-Africans conducted in Africa on Africans living in Africa within the study period were included. The total number of articles per country, publication types, and impact factors of the respective journals were tabulated to determine the quantity and quality of research in this field.
Two hundred twenty-eight (228) articles from 25 African countries that were published in 129 different journals were identified. The majority were epidemiological studies (43.9 %), experimental studies (20.2 %), randomized controlled trials (2.2 %), and systematic reviews (1.8 %). Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda topped the list of the most-published articles, with 76 (33.3 %), 71 (31.1 %), and 12 (5.3 %), respectively. The total number of journals with impact factors was 81, of which 29 were high-impact-factor journals.
Pain research publications from Africa should be encouraged. Given the underexplored frontiers of pain research, there is a need to engage in rigorous research in this field to enhance the contribution of the African continent ("the African Voice") to worldwide advances in this respect.
多年来，非洲科学出版物数量极低的趋势已经显现。该地区的疼痛研究出版物尚未得到评估。本研究旨在确定过去10年非洲的疼痛研究范围，识别不同国家出版物数量的趋势，找出目前疼痛研究中未充分探索的领域，并激发对尼日利亚和非洲高质量疼痛研究的新兴趣。
使用Medline、Ovid数据库，并通过谷歌对手头相关参考文献进行检索，研究2002年7月至2012年5月关于疼痛的英文和非英文医学文献。纳入研究期间在非洲针对生活在非洲的非洲人由非洲人和/或非非洲人开展的关于疼痛的出版物。统计每个国家的文章总数、出版物类型以及各期刊的影响因子，以确定该领域研究的数量和质量。
共识别出25个非洲国家在129种不同期刊上发表的228篇文章。大多数是流行病学研究（43.9%）、实验研究（20.2%）、随机对照试验（2.2%）和系统评价（1.8%）。尼日利亚、南非和乌干达发表文章数量最多，分别为76篇（33.3%）、71篇（31.1%）和12篇（5.3%）。有影响因子的期刊总数为81种，其中29种是高影响因子期刊。
应鼓励来自非洲的疼痛研究出版物。鉴于疼痛研究存在未充分探索的前沿领域，有必要在该领域开展严谨研究，以增强非洲大陆（“非洲之声”）在这方面对全球进展的贡献。
