ReviewSAGE open medicine2026
Epidemiology of cancer-related pain in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies from 2001 to 2024.
Review in SAGE open medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Pain is a common symptom at cancer diagnosis and often worsens with treatment and disease progression. Comprehensive evidence on its prevalence and severity in Africa remains limited. Objectives: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the prevalence and severity of cancer-related pain among adult cancer patients in Africa using available evidence. Methods: Google Scholar, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library were searched for articles that reported the prevalence of pain in cancer patients in African countries. The methodological quality of included studies was assessed using a quality assessment tool for prevalence studies, and the certainty of the evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) framework. Pooled estimates of the prevalence and severity of cancer-related pain were calculated. Study heterogeneity was assessed using I², while sensitivity analyses were performed to test the robustness of the findings. Results: This meta-analysis included 23 studies conducted in African nations. In all included studies, 5378 patients with cancer at various stages of anticancer treatment were included. The pooled prevalence of pain was 76% (95% CI: 71%-81%, Conclusion: More than three-quarters of patients suffer from cancer-related pain, with a substantial proportion experiencing moderate-to-severe levels with moderate certainty. Considerable variability exists in pain prevalence and severity across studies and regions of Africa. As a result, findings should be interpreted with caution. Improving access to analgesics may help alleviate pain and enhance quality of life for cancer patients.
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