Postsurgical Chronic Pain: Incidence and Associated Factors in a Latin American Population

Introduction: It is important to know the incidence of Chronic Post-Surgical Pain (CPSP), to describe the distribution of risk and protective factors associated with its presentation and to measure its impact on the quality of life. Due to the diversity of factors that have been implicated as potentially associated with chronic post-surgical pain, it is important to look for differential characteristics including emotional features to establish whether there are differences in the incidence of this type of pain. Methods: A prospective analytical observational study was conducted in surgical patients at a University hospital from January 1 2014. Patients were asked to score their pain in the preoperative and immediate postoperative setting, and 3 months after surgery; preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative risk factors were assessed, and quality of life was assessed in the preoperative setting and 3 months after surgery. Results: We included 108 patients for a preliminary analysis, the study continued until the target sample size had been reached. The global incidence of CPSP was 16.67% (95%CI 9.63-23.69). Risk factors were the presence of pain prior to surgery and the duration of the surgical procedure. The presence of pain prior to surgery is a risk factor for the transition to CPSP.