Acute postoperative pain impact trajectories and factors contributing to trajectory membership

Nicholas A. Giordano*, Michael L. Kent, Raymond B. Kroma, Winifred Rojas, Mary Jo Lindl, Eugenio Lujan, Chester C. Buckenmaier, Krista B. Highland

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Ongoing postoperative pain assessments are vital to optimizing pain management and attenuating the development of poor health outcomes after surgery. This study aimed to characterize acute multidimensional trajectories of pain impact on physical function, sleep, mood, and stress and to examine clinical characteristics and demographics associated with trajectory membership. Additionally, this study compared levels of pain intensity and prescription opioid use at 2 weeks and 1 month postoperatively across acute symptom trajectories. Methods: Participants (N = 285) undergoing total knee arthroplasty, total hip arthroplasty, and spinal fusion procedures were recruited for this multisite prospective observational study. Longitudinal, joint k-means clustering was used to identify trajectories based on pain impact on activity, sleep, mood, and stress. Results: Three distinct pain impact trajectories were observed: Low (33.7%), Improving (35.4%), and Persistently High (30.9%). Participants in the Persistently High impact trajectory reported pain interfering moderately to severely with activity, sleep, mood, and stress. Relative to other trajectories, the Persistently High impact trajectory was associated with greater postoperative pain at 1 month postoperatively. Preoperatively, participants in the Persistently High impact trajectory reported worse Pain Catastrophizing Scale scores and PROMIS Pain Interference, PROMIS Anxiety, and PROMIS Social Isolation scores than did participants presenting with other trajectories. No statistical differences in opioid use were observed across trajectories. Conclusions: Variation in acute postoperative pain impact on activity, sleep, mood, and stress exists. Given the complex nature of patients' postoperative pain experiences, understanding how psychosocial presentations acutely change throughout hospitalization could assist in guiding clinicians' treatment choices and risk assessments.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)829-836
Number of pages8
JournalPain Medicine (United States)
Volume24
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jul 2023

Keywords

  • acute pain
  • opioid
  • pain assessment
  • patient-peported outcomes
  • surgery

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