title: Effect of gender on acute pain prediction and memory in periodontal surgery.
abstract: Pain is a complex experience that is affected by factors such as gender, stress, anxiety and cognitions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the inter-relationship between gender and acute pain prediction and memory under periodontal surgery treatment. The study was conducted on 15 male and 22 female dental patients (mean age 34 yr, mean education level 14.7 yr), who were scheduled for periodontal surgery. Patients were evaluated during four consecutive appointments: at initial check-up, immediately pre-operatively, 1 wk post-operatively, and at 4 wk post-operative follow-up. Patients were requested to complete questionnaires concerning their anxiety at each appointment and to indicate their subjective evaluations concerning pain (on a visual analogue scale). Evaluations concerning expectation to experience pain during the planned surgery (pain prediction) were made at the first two appointments and evaluations of the experienced pain as remembered from the surgery (pain memory) were made at the last two appointments. Gender had a significant effect on pain prediction and pain memory. Men expected to experience more pain pre-operatively than women but remembered less pain post-operatively. It was concluded that cognitive pain perception in clinical situations differs between genders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occlusion and Behavioral Sciences, The Maurice and Gabriela Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel. elilana@post.tau.ac.il
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Eli
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baht
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kozlovsky
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Simon
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires