Return to search

The course of pain intensity in patients undergoing herniated disc surgery: a 5-year longitudinal observational study

Objectives: The aims of this study are to answer the following questions (1) How does the pain intensity of lumbar and cervical disc surgery patients change within a postoperative time frame of 5 years? (2) Which sociodemographic, medical, work-related, and psychological factors are associated with postoperative pain in lumbar and cervical disc surgery patients? Methods: The baseline survey (T0; n = 534) was conducted 3.6 days (SD 2.48) post-surgery in the form of face-to-face interviews. The follow-up interviews were conducted 3 months (T1; n = 486 patients), 9 months (T2; n = 457), 15 months (T3; n = 438), and 5 years (T4; n = 404) post-surgery. Pain intensity was measured on a numeric rating-scale (NRS 0–100). Estimated changes to and influences on postoperative pain by random effects were accounted by regression models. Results: Average pain decreased continuously over time in patients with lumbar herniated disc (Wald Chi² = 25.97, p<0.001). In patients with cervical herniated disc a reduction of pain was observed, albeit not significant (Chi² = 7.02, p = 0.135). Two predictors were associated with postoperative pain in lumbar and cervical disc surgery patients: the subjective prognosis of gainful employment (p<0.001) and depression (p<0.001). Conclusion: In the majority of disc surgery patients, a long-term reduction of pain was observed. Cervical surgery patients seemed to benefit less from surgery than the lumbar surgery patients. A negative subjective prognosis of gainful employment and stronger depressive symptoms were associated with postoperative pain. The findings may promote multimodal rehabilitation concepts including psychological and work-related support.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:14815
Date January 2016
CreatorsDorow, Marie, Löbner, Margrit, Stein, Janine, Pabst, Alexander, Konnopka, Alexander, Meisel, Hans J., Günther, Lutz, Meixensberger, Jürgen, Stengler, Katarina, Riedel-Heller, Steffi G.
ContributorsUniversität Leipzig, Universität Hamburg, Berufsgenossenschaftliche Kliniken Bergmannstrost, Klinikum St. Georg
PublisherPublic Library of Science
Source SetsHochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typedoc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text
SourcePLoS ONE 11(5): e0156647. doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0156647
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Page generated in 0.002 seconds