Global burden of neuropathic pain

Global burden of disease studies measure the impact of disability and premature death resulting from specific diseases and injuries. Recently, these studies have highlighted the leading contribution of regional pain conditions (low back pain and neck pain in particular) to the global burden of disability. However, to date, there has not been a systematic approach to measuring the global burden of disease attributable to neuropathic pain (NP) conditions. This article gives a brief overview of the concept of burden of disease, the underlying drivers, and dynamics of disease burden at a population level and proposes an agenda in relation to NP for developing the conceptual and empirical evidence base necessary for estimating the global burden of NP.