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Differential Predictors of Acute Post-Surgical Pain Intensity After Abdominal Hysterectomy and Major Joint Arthroplasty

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Background

Psychological factors have a significant role in post-surgical pain, and their study can inform pain management.

Purpose

The aims of this study are to identify psychological predictors of post-surgical pain following abdominal hysterectomy (AH) and major joint arthroplasty (MJA) and to investigate differential predictors by type of surgery.

Method

One hundred forty-two women undergoing AH and 110 patients undergoing MJA were assessed 24 h before (T1) and 48 h after (T2) surgery.

Results

A predictive post-surgical pain model was found for AH and MJA yielding pre-surgical pain experience and pain catastrophizing as significant predictors and a significant interaction of pre-surgical optimism and surgery type. Separate regression models by surgery type showed that pre-surgical optimism was the best predictor of post-surgical pain after MJA, but not after AH.

Conclusions

Findings highlight the relevance of psychological predictors for both surgeries and the value of targeting specific psychological factors by surgery type in order to effectively manage acute post-surgical pain.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a project grant (PTDC/SAU-NEU/108557/2008) and by a PhD grant (SFRH/BD/36368/2007) from the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology, COMPETE, and FEDER. We also thank all patients that agreed to participate in this study.

Authors’ Statement of Conflict of Interest and Adherence to Ethical Standards

Authors Patrícia Pinto, Teresa McIntyre, Patrício Costa, Vera Araújo-Soares and Armando Almeida declare that they have no conflict of interest. All procedures, including the informed consent process, were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, Campus de Gualtar, University of Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal

    Patrícia R. Pinto PhD, Patrício Costa PhD & Armando Almeida PhD

  2. ICVS/3B’s – PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal

    Patrícia R. Pinto PhD, Patrício Costa PhD & Armando Almeida PhD

  3. Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation and Statistics (TIMES) and Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Teresa McIntyre PhD

  4. Institute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK

    Vera Araújo-Soares PhD

  5. Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Patrício Costa PhD

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  1. Patrícia R. Pinto PhD
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  2. Teresa McIntyre PhD
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  3. Vera Araújo-Soares PhD
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  4. Patrício Costa PhD
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  5. Armando Almeida PhD
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Correspondence to Patrícia R. Pinto PhD.

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Pinto, P.R., McIntyre, T., Araújo-Soares, V. et al. Differential Predictors of Acute Post-Surgical Pain Intensity After Abdominal Hysterectomy and Major Joint Arthroplasty. ann. behav. med. 49, 384–397 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9662-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9662-3

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