Prevalence and influence of gender, age, and type of surgery on postoperative pain.
OBJECTIVE
Postoperative pain is frequent despite of the therapeutic armamentarium available. Its development is related with factors inherent to the surgery and patient. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of postoperative pain in hospitalized patients and its association with gender and type of surgery.


METHODS
This is a transversal study in which interviews were done with 187 patients undergoing surgeries. The incidence of pain in the first 24 hours and its severity according to a numeric rating scale: mild (1 to 3), moderate (4 to 6), and severe (7 to 10), were evaluated.


RESULTS
Three of 190 patients interviewed were excluded due to difficulties understanding the method used to evaluate the level of pain. In the study population, 66.8% (n = 125) were females; mean age 45.83 +/- 16.17 years, but 25.1% (n = 47) were 60 years old or more. In the first 24 hours, 46% (n = 85) of the patients reported pain. Among male patients, 48.4% (n = 30) complained of pain, while 66.8% (n = 55) of the females did so. The prevalence of pain showed no differences regarding gender (p = 0.536) and age (p = 0.465). As for pain severity, 29.4% of the patients referred mild pain, it was moderate in 43.5%, and severe in 27.1%. A significant association between the incidence of postoperative pain and type of surgery was observed (p = 0.003).


CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated that an elevated number of patients experience pain in the first 24 hours after the surgery. The incidence of pain was higher in patients undergoing general surgery.
Couceiro
Tânia Cursino de Menezes
TC
Hospital Barão de Lucena, Recife, PE. taniacouceiro@yahoo.com.br
Valença
Marcelo Moraes
MM
Lima
Luciana Cavalcanti
LC
de Menezes
Telma Cursino
TC
Raposo
Maria Cristina Falcão
MC
D000367:Age Factors; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010149:Postoperative Pain / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative