A Prospective Cohort Study Evaluating the Ability of Anticipated Pain, Perceived Analgesic Needs, and Psychological Traits to Predict Pain and Analgesic Usage following Cesarean Delivery

Table 2

Bivariate correlations between preoperative predictive tests and response outcome measures postcesarean delivery.

	Opioid used	Combined (Rest + Move); NVPS AUC
ASI	−0.019	0.148
FPQ	−0.132	0.165
PCS	−0.137	0.067
Extroversion	0.094	0.126
Neuroticism	0.23	0.127
Lying	−0.207	0.061
Psychoticism	0.114	−0.09
Expected postoperative pain^1	0.349	0.263
Anticipated analgesic threshold^2	0.032	−0.349
Perceived analgesic need^3	0.169	0.313

Unadjusted value < 0.05.
AUC = area-under-the curve; NVPS = numerical verbal pain score (0–10, 0 = no pain, 10 = worst pain imaginable).
ASI = Anxiety Sensitivity Index; FPQ = Fear of Pain Score III; PCS = Pain Catastrophizing Scale.
The personality categories (psychoticism, extroversion, neuroticism, and lying) were derived from Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised-Short Scale (EPQR-S).
Total amount of supplemental opioid analgesics (oral and intravenous) used in 48 hours was determined by adding intravenous morphine doses to oxycodone/hydrocodone (converted to morphine mg equivalents for analysis with oral oxycodone/hydrocodone 20 mg being considered equivalent to 10 mg IV morphine [14]).
NVPS at rest and at movement (defined as sitting upright at 90 degrees) was measured at 6, 24, and 48 hours, and the pain burden was determined as NVPS over time AUC over the 48-hour study period.
¹Expected postoperative pain: “how much pain do you expect to experience after your surgery on a pain scale of 0–10?”
²Anticipate analgesic threshold: “at what point on a pain scale of 0–10 would you likely request post-op pain relief?”
³Perceived analgesic need: “what do you expect your analgesic requirements will be after surgery? (0 = no analgesia, 10 = highest possible amount).”