Patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) presents often with several concomitant physical and mental health problems. Recent evidence suggests that pain is one of the most commonly reported symptoms in patients with PTSD, regardless of the nature of their traumatic experience.

To evaluate chronic pain in patients with PTSD in a Tunisian military sample.

Transversal descriptive study of a sample of 22 patients treated for PTSD in the Principal Military Hospital of Instruction of Tunis during the period between August and October 2016.

The PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HAD), and the Brief Pain Inventory Short Form (BPI-SF) were administered for patients.

All the patients of the study were male. The mean age of the sample was 29.6 years. Fifty percent presented with a co-morbid major depression and 59.1% with chronic pain symptoms. Locations of chronic pain were as follow: limb pain (69.23%), back pain (38.46%), headache (30.76%) and torso pain (7.69%). Sequelae from combat-related trauma were present in 31.8% of cases.

The results of this study illustrate a high rate of chronic pain symptoms among PTSD patients. This suggests that closer attention should be given to the interaction of medical problems, especially pain, with PTSD symptomatology in clinical management and in future research.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.