Pain-related psychological correlates of pediatric acute post-surgical pain

M Gabrielle Pagé,¹ Jennifer Stinson,^2,3 Fiona Campbell,^2,4 Lisa Isaac,^2,4 Joel Katz<sup>1,4,5

1</sup>Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health, York University, ²Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children, ³Lawrence S Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, ⁴Department of Anesthesia, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, ⁵Department of Psychology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada

Background: Post-surgical pain is prevalent in children, yet is significantly understudied. The goals of this study were to examine gender differences in pain outcomes and pain-related psychological constructs postoperatively and to identify pain-related psychological correlates of acute post-surgical pain (APSP) and predictors of functional disability 2 weeks after hospital discharge.
Methods: Eighty-three children aged 8–18 (mean 13.8 ± 2.4) years who underwent major orthopedic or general surgery completed pain and pain-related psychological measures 48–72 hours and 2 weeks after surgery.
Results: Girls reported higher levels of acute postoperative anxiety and pain unpleasantness compared with boys. In addition, pain anxiety was significantly associated with APSP intensity and functional disability 2 weeks after discharge, whereas pain catastrophizing was associated with APSP unpleasantness.
Conclusion: These results highlight the important role played by pain-related psychological factors in the experience of pediatric APSP by children and adolescents.

Keywords: acute post-surgical pain, children, adolescents, pain anxiety, pain catastrophizing