Perioperative Pain Correlates and Prolonged Postoperative Pain Predictors: Demographic and Psychometric Questionnaires.

Introduction: Perioperatively, patients are near-guaranteed to experience acute pain by virtue of the surgical tissue insult. The transition of acute pain to pathological chronic pain is a complex and poorly understood process. To study this, the prevalence of pain was examined preoperatively, and at 6 weeks and 3 months postoperatively.

Methods: Fifty-four patients undergoing moderate-major gynaecological surgery at Christchurch Women's Hospital (Christchurch, New Zealand) were recruited over a period of 11 weeks. Follow-up by telephone was conducted at 6 weeks and 3 months following surgery. Demographic information including age, gender, ethnicity, work, and education status were collected, as well as aspects of medical history. Participants were subjected to psychometric questionnaires at each time-point.

Results: Of the participants, 15.7% experienced significant pain at 6 weeks postoperatively; 8.2% of participants experienced significant pain at 3 months postoperatively. The psychometric questionnaires used found differences between those experiencing pain and those not experiencing pain at given observation points. Only the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ) appeared predictive of developing prolonged postoperative pain. The mean difference (7.4 on a 0-50) scale should assist in clinical decision-making regarding analgesia.

Conclusion: Only the BIPQ was predictive of developing prolonged postoperative pain. While none of the demographic factors observed significantly predicted the development of 'prolonged pain', the not significant data followed expected trends. Several relationships were detected in this study that should further efforts in developing preoperative predictors to promote the secondary prevention of postoperative pain states.