Pain Intensity on the First Day after Surgery

Abstract

Many patients still suffer from moderate to severe postoperative pain despite improvements in pain treatment. Identification of the types of surgery that may result in severe postoperative pain could lead to better postoperative pain therapy. The worst pain intensities since surgery, rated on the first postoperative day by 50,523 patients, were compared for 179 surgical groups. High levels of pain were observed after several common minor- to medium-level procedures because patients received no opioids or low doses thereof. On the other hand, comparatively low pain scores were observed after a number of major abdominal surgeries, often due to sufficient epidural analgesia. The quality of care after surgeries associated with high pain scores could be improved by better adherence to evidence-based pain-treatment recommendations. Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text.