Background: The current study aimed to investigate the patterns of postoperative pain trajectories over time and their associated risk factors in patients receiving video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and epidural analgesia (EA) for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at a tertiary medical center and included patients undergoing VATS for stage I NSCLC between 2011 and 2015. Maximal pain intensity was recorded daily during the first postoperative week. Group-based trajectory analysis was performed to categorize variations in pain scores over time. Associations between pain trajectory classification and amount of EA administered and length of hospital stay (LOS) after surgery were also evaluated.
Results: A total of 635 patients with 4647 pain scores were included in the analysis, and 2 postoperative pain trajectory groups were identified: group 1, mild pain trajectory (78%); and group 2, rebound pain trajectory (22%). Risk factors for rebound pain trajectory were a surgical time longer than 3 hours (odds ratio [OR], 1.97; 95% CI, 1.27-3.07), female sex (OR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.04-2.53), and higher pain score on postoperative day 0 (OR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.08-1.36; linear effect). Although group 2 had a longer LOS (p < 0.001), they did not receive more EA than group 1 (p = 0.805).
Conclusion: Surgical time, sex, and pain intensity after surgery were major determinants of rebound pain trajectory, and more aggressive pain control strategies should be considered in high-risk patients.
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