Is postoperative pain a self-fulfilling prophecy?
Logan DE; Rose JB Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, USA. deirdre.logan@childrens.harvard.edu OBJECTIVE: To explore relationships among anxiety, anticipated pain, coping styles, postoperative pain, and patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) use among adolescent surgical patients and their parents. METHODS: Sixty-five 12- to 18-year-old surgical patients undergoing surgery with postoperative PCA pain management were included. Before surgery, adolescents and parents reported anxiety and expected levels of postoperative pain. Pain catastrophizing and coping style were assessed within 48 hr after surgery, with pain scores and PCA use recorded through the end of the second postoperative day. RESULTS: Adolescents’ preoperative psychological characteristics (anxiety and anticipated pain) predicted postoperative pain scores, number of PCA injections and demands, and the PCA injections:demands ratio, with reports of anticipated pain associating most closely with these postoperative pain outcomes.
