The prevalence of postoperative pain in a sample of 1490 surgical inpatients
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: To measure the prevalence of postoperative pain, an assessment was made of 1490 surgical inpatients who were receiving postoperative pain treatment according to an acute pain protocol. METHODS: Measurements of pain (scores from 0 to 100 on a visual analogue scale) were obtained three times a day on the day before surgery and on days 0-4 postoperatively; mean pain intensity scores were calculated. Patients were classified as having no pain (score 0-5), mild pain (score 6-40), moderate pain (score 41-74) or severe pain (score 75-100). RESULTS: Moderate or severe pain was reported by 41% of the patients on day 0, 30% on days 1 and 19%, 16% and 14% on days 2, 3 and 4. The prevalence of moderate or severe pain in the abdominal surgery group was high on postoperative days 0-1 (30-55%). A high prevalence of moderate or severe pain was found during the whole of days 1-4 in the extremity surgery group (20-71%) and in the back/spinal surgery group (30-64%). CONCLUSION: We conclude that despite an acute pain protocol, postoperative pain treatment was unsatisfactory, especially after intermediate and major surgical procedures on an extremity or on the spine.
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Poor acute postoperative pain control is common and often inadequately treated.
“Numerous studies suggest poor acute postoperative pain control is common and often inadequately treated.9–12”
From Preoperative predictors of poor acute postoperative pain control: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2019) · cites this paper as [12]
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- Authors
- Sommer, M., de Rijke, J. M., van Kleef, M., Kessels, A. G. H., Peters, M. L., Geurts, J. W. J. M., Gramke, H.-F., & Marcus, M. A. E.
- Affiliations
- Maastricht University Medical Centre (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Sommer, M.
- Geurts, J. W. J. M.
- Gramke, H.-F.
- Marcus, M. A. E.
- Venue
- European Journal of Anaesthesiology
- Published
- 2008-04
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 267-274
- ISSN
- 0265-0215 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2112224102
- Cited by
- 471
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 45 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 26 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 20
- FWCI
- 5.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- other-oa
- Locations
- European Journal of Anaesthesiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Anesthesia and Pain Management
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine › Pain Management and Opioid Use
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Pediatric Pain Management Techniques
- Keywords
- postoperative pain, prevalence, surgical inpatients, pain intensity, abdominal surgery, extremity surgery, spinal surgery, postoperative analgesia, visual analogue scale
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analgesics, Cross-Sectional Studies, Extremities, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pain Measurement, Pain, Postoperative, Postoperative Pain, Severity of Illness Index, Spine, Surgical Procedures, Operative, Time Factors, Prevalence
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