scholarly journals P029: Are acute pain trajectories after an emergency department visit associated with chronic pain at 3 months?

CJEM ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (S1) ◽  
pp. S73
Author(s):  
R. Daoust ◽  
J. Paquet ◽  
A. Cournoyer ◽  
E. Piette ◽  
J. Morris ◽  
...  

Introduction: Studies suggest that acute pain evolution after an emergency department (ED) visit has been associated with the development of chronic pain. Using group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM), we aimed to evaluate if ED discharged patients with similar pain intensity profiles of change over 14 days are associated with chronic pain at 3 months. Methods: This is a prospective cohort study of patients aged 18 years or older who visited the ED for an acute pain condition (≤2 weeks) and were discharged with an opioid prescription. Patients completed a 14-day diary in which they listed their daily pain intensity level (0-10 numeric rating scale). Three months post-ED visit, participants were interviewed by phone to report their pain intensity related to the initial pain. Results: A total of 305 patients were retained at 3 months (mean age ± SD: 55 ± 15 years, 49% women). Using GBTM, six distinct pain intensity trajectories were identified during the first 14 days of the acute pain period; two linear one with moderate or severe pain during the follow-up (representing almost 40% of the patients) and four cubic polynomial order trajectories, with mild or no-pain at the end of the 14 days (low final pain). Twelve percent (11.9; ±95%CI: 8.2-15.4) of the patients had chronic pain at 3 months. Controlling for age, sex and types of pain condition, patients with trajectories of moderate or severe pain and those with only severe pain were 5.1 (95%CI: 2.2-11.8) and 8.2 (95%CI: 3.4-20.0) times more likely to develop chronic pain at 3 months, respectively, compared to the low final pain group. Conclusion: Trajectories could be useful to early identification of patients at risk of chronic pain.

CJEM ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (S1) ◽  
pp. S73-S74
Author(s):  
R. Daoust ◽  
J. Paquet ◽  
A. Cournoyer ◽  
E. Piette ◽  
J. Morris ◽  
...  

Introduction: The objective of the study was to evaluate the acute pain intensity evolution in ED discharged patients using Group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM). This method identified patient groups with similar profiles of change over time without assuming the existence of a particular pattern or number of groups. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study of ED patients aged ≥18 years with an acute pain condition (≤ 2 weeks) and discharged with an opioid prescription. Patients completed a 14-day diary assessing daily pain intensity level (0-10 numeric rating scale) and pain medication use. Results: Among the 372 included patients, six distinct post-ED pain intensity trajectories were identified: two started with severe levels of pain, one remained with severe pain intensity (12.6% of the sample) and the other ended with moderate pain intensity level (26.3%). Two other trajectories had severe initial pain, one decreased to mild pain (21.7%) and the other to no-pain (13.8%). Another trajectory had moderate initial pain which decreased to a mild level (15.9%) and the last one started with mild pain intensity and had no pain at the end of the 14-day (9.7%). The pain trajectory patterns were significantly associated with age, type of painful conditions, pain intensity at ED discharge, and with opioid consumption. Conclusion: Acute pain resolution following an ED visit seems to progress through six different trajectory patterns that are more informative than simple linear models and could be useful to adapt acute pain management in future research.


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. e040390
Author(s):  
Raoul Daoust ◽  
Jean Paquet ◽  
Alexis Cournoyer ◽  
Éric Piette ◽  
Judy Morris ◽  
...  

ObjectivesInadequate acute pain management can reduce the quality of life, cause unnecessary suffering and can often lead to the development of chronic pain. Using group-based trajectory modelling, we previously identified six distinct pain intensity trajectories for the first 14-day postemergency department (ED) discharge; two linear ones with moderate or severe pain during follow-up (~40% of the patients) and four cubic polynomial order trajectories with mild or no pain at the end of the 14 days (low final pain trajectories). We assessed if previously described acute pain intensity trajectories over 14 days after ED discharge are predictive of chronic pain 3 months later.DesignProspective cohort study.SettingTertiary care trauma centre academic hospital.ParticipantsThis study included 18 years and older ED patients who consulted for acute (≤2 weeks) pain conditions that were discharged with an opioid prescription. Patients completed a 14-day diary in which they listed their daily pain intensity (0–10 numeric rating scale).OutcomesThree months after ED visit, participants were questioned by phone about their current pain intensity (0–10 numeric rating scale). Chronic pain was defined as patients with current pain intensity ≥4 at 3 months.ResultsA total of 305 participants remained in the study at 3 months, 49% were women and a mean age of 55±15 years. Twelve per cent (11.9; 95% CI 8.2 to 15.4) of patients had chronic pain at the 3-month follow-up. Controlling for age, sex and pain condition, patients with moderate or severe pain trajectories and those with only a severe pain trajectory were respectively 5.1 (95% CI 2.2 to 11.8) and 8.2 (95% CI 3.4 to 20.0) times more likely to develop chronic pain 3 months later compared with patients in the low final pain trajectories.ConclusionSpecific acute pain trajectories following an ED visit are closely related to the development of chronic pain 3 months later.Trial registration numberNCT02799004; Results.


Author(s):  
Iveta Golubovska ◽  
Aleksejs Miščuks ◽  
Ēriks Rudzītis

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the intensity of pain in orthopaedic hospital patients and to identify unsatisfactory pain management and possibilities for improvements in the future. Data collection included Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) scores, which characterised the intensity of pain. Maximum pain on the day of surgery, mean pain on the day of surgery (D0), and mean pain on first (D1) and second (D2) postoperative days were documented. The pain of an intensity from 0 to 3 was defined as mild pain, 4 to 6 as moderate pain, and 6 to 10 as severe pain. Maximum severe pain intensity on the day of surgery was experienced by 20.5% of patients, moderate by 45.8%, and mild by 33.6%. The reported mean pain intensity according to type of surgery was as follows: hip replacement- 2.79 ± 1.6 (D0), 2.09 ± 1.4 (D1), and 1.35 ± 1.2 (D2); knee replacement - 3.39 ± 1.7 (D0), 2.98 ± (D1), 1.82 ± 1.36, and (D2); upper extremity surgery - 3.59 ± 1.9 (D0), 3.4 ± 1.7 (D1), and 2.1 ± 1.5 (D2); lower extremity surgery - 4.1 ± 2.1 (D0), 3.49 ± 1.42 (D1), and 2.58 ± 1.4 (D2); spine surgery - 3.31 ± 1.58 (D0), 2.88 ± 1.96 (D1), and 1.83 ± 1.74 (D2). Patients in the lower extremity group experienced unacceptable mean pain. The maximum pain intensity on day of surgery was experienced by patients after single-shot plexus brachialis block anaesthesia (5.24 ± 2.4). Well-designed multimodal analgesia with special attention to single shot techniques may improve pain management and functional outcomes after orthopaedic surgery.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 204-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Miclescu ◽  
Stephen Butler ◽  
Rolf Karlsten

AbstractBackground and AimsAcute Pain Services have been implemented initially to treat inadequate postoperative pain. This study was undertaken to prospectively review the current challenges of the APS team in an academic hospital assessing the effects of its activity on both surgical and medical pain intensity. It also define the characteristics of the patients and the risk factors influencing the multiple visits from the APS team.MethodThis prospective cohort study was conducted at Uppsala University Hospital (a Swedish tertiary and quaternary care hospital) during one year. All the patients referred to the APS team were enrolled. A standardized data collection template of demographic data, medical history, pain diagnosis, associated diseases, duration of treatment, number of visits by the APS team and type of treatment was employed. The primary outcomes were pain scores before, after treatment and the number of follow-ups. The patients were visited by APS at regular intervals and divided by the number of visits by APS team into several groups: group 1 (one visit and up to 2 follow ups); group 2 (3 to 4 follow-ups); group 3 (5 to 9 follow-ups); group 4 (10 to 19 follow-ups); group 5 (>20 followups). The difference between groups were analyzed with ordinal logistic regression analyses.ResultsPatients (n = 730) (mean age 56±4, female 58%, men 42%) were distributed by service to medical (41%) and surgical (58%). Of these, 48% of patients reported a pain score of moderate to severe pain and 27% reported severe pain on the first assessment. On the last examination before discharge, they reported 25–30% less pain (P = 0.002). The median NRS (numerical rating scores) decreased significantly from 9.6 (95% confidence interval, 8.7–9.9) to 6.3 (6.1–7.4) for the severe pain (P < 0.0001), from 3.8 (3.2–4.3) to 2.4 (1.8–2.9) for the moderate pain. The odds ratio for frequent follow-ups of the patients between 18 and 85 years (n = 609) was 2.33 (95% CI: 1.35–4.02) if the patient had a history of chronic neuropathic pain, 1.80(1.25–2.60) in case the patient had a history of chronic nociceptive pain, 2.06(1.30–3.26) if he had mental diseases, and 3.35(2.21–5.08) if he had opioid dependency at the time of consultation from APS. Strong predictors of frequent visits included female gender (P = 0.04).ConclusionsBeside the benefits of APS in reducing pain intensity, this study demonstrates that the focus of APS has been shifted from the traditional treatment of acute surgical pain to the clinical challenges of treating hospitalized patients with a high comorbidity of psychiatric diseases, opioid dependency and chronic pain.ImplicationsThe concept of an APS will ultimately be redefined according to the new clinical variables. In the light of the increasing number of patients with complex pain states and chronic pain, opioid dependency and psychiatric comorbidities it is mandatory that the interdisciplinary APS team should include other specialties besides the “classical interdisciplinary APS team”, as psychiatry, psychology, rehabilitation and physiotherapy with experience in treating chronic pain patients.


2014 ◽  
Vol 120 (5) ◽  
pp. 1237-1245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans J. Gerbershagen ◽  
Esther Pogatzki-Zahn ◽  
Sanjay Aduckathil ◽  
Linda M. Peelen ◽  
Teus H. Kappen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Many studies have analyzed risk factors for the development of severe postoperative pain with contradictory results. To date, the association of risk factors with postoperative pain intensity among different surgical procedures has not been studied and compared. Methods: The authors selected precisely defined surgical groups (at least 150 patients each) from prospectively collected perioperative data from 105 German hospitals (2004–2010). The association of age, sex, and preoperative chronic pain intensity with worst postoperative pain intensity was studied with multiple linear and logistic regression analyses. Pooled data of the selected surgeries were studied with random-effect analysis. Results: Thirty surgical procedures with a total number of 22,963 patients were compared. In each surgical procedure, preoperative chronic pain intensity and younger age were associated with higher postoperative pain intensity. A linear decline of postoperative pain with age was found. Females reported more severe pain in 21 of 23 surgeries. Analysis of pooled surgical groups indicated that postoperative pain decreased by 0.28 points (95% CI, 0.26 to 0.31) on the numeric rating scale (0 to 10) per decade age increase and postoperative pain increased by 0.14 points (95% CI, 0.13 to 0.15) for each higher score on the preoperative chronic pain scale. Females reported 0.29 points (95% CI, 0.22 to 0.37) higher pain intensity. Conclusions: Independent of the type and extent of surgery, preoperative chronic pain and younger age were associated with higher postoperative pain. Females consistently reported slightly higher pain scores regardless of the type of surgery. The clinical significance of this small sex difference has to be analyzed in future studies.


2013 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. 934-944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans J. Gerbershagen ◽  
Sanjay Aduckathil ◽  
Albert J. M. van Wijck ◽  
Linda M. Peelen ◽  
Cor J. Kalkman ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Severe pain after surgery remains a major problem, occurring in 20–40% of patients. Despite numerous published studies, the degree of pain following many types of surgery in everyday clinical practice is unknown. To improve postoperative pain therapy and develop procedure-specific, optimized pain-treatment protocols, types of surgery that may result in severe postoperative pain in everyday practice must first be identified. Methods: This study considered 115,775 patients from 578 surgical wards in 105 German hospitals. A total of 70,764 patients met the inclusion criteria. On the first postoperative day, patients were asked to rate their worst pain intensity since surgery (numeric rating scale, 0–10). All surgical procedures were assigned to 529 well-defined groups. When a group contained fewer than 20 patients, the data were excluded from analysis. Finally, 50,523 patients from 179 surgical groups were compared. Results: The 40 procedures with the highest pain scores (median numeric rating scale, 6–7) included 22 orthopedic/trauma procedures on the extremities. Patients reported high pain scores after many “minor” surgical procedures, including appendectomy, cholecystectomy, hemorrhoidectomy, and tonsillectomy, which ranked among the 25 procedures with highest pain intensities. A number of “major” abdominal surgeries resulted in comparatively low pain scores, often because of sufficient epidural analgesia. Conclusions: Several common minor- to medium-level surgical procedures, including some with laparoscopic approaches, resulted in unexpectedly high levels of postoperative pain. To reduce the number of patients suffering from severe pain, patients undergoing so-called minor surgery should be monitored more closely, and postsurgical pain treatment needs to comply with existing procedure-specific pain-treatment recommendations.


CJEM ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (S1) ◽  
pp. S30-S31
Author(s):  
R. Daoust ◽  
J. Paquet ◽  
E. Piette ◽  
J. Morris ◽  
A. Cournoyer ◽  
...  

Introduction: A 2008 survey found that 1.9% of the entire US population was using prescription pain medication non-medically and that 56% obtained them from a friend or relatives. Diversion of pain medication may occur when a portion of the prescription is unused for pain relief after an ED visit. We hypothesized that at least 10 pills (~40%) of an opioid prescription 2 weeks after an ED visit, will not be consumed and become available for potential misuse. Objective: Determine the quantity of unused opioids pills for common acute pain diagnoses, 2 weeks after an ED visit for acute pain. Methods: Prospective observational cohort study of consecutive ED patients from a tertiary academic urban hospital with 60,000 ED visits annually. Inclusion criteria: aged ≥18 years, acute pain conditions present ≤2 weeks, pain intensity at triage of ≥4 (on a 0-10 numeric rating scale; NRS), and discharged with a new opioid prescription. ED physicians identified (24/7) eligible patients. They recorded the pain complaint/location, the final diagnosis, the quantity and type of prescribed pain medication. Discharged patients completed paper or electronic 14-day diary (REDCap database) to document their pain medication consumption. As a mitigation strategy, they were also contacted by phone at 2 weeks for the same information. A paired t-test was used to test the difference between the amounts of opioids prescribed and consumed. Results: 350 patients were recruited. Mean age 50 (SD ±16) and 54.2% were men. Painful diagnosis: fracture (18.2%), acute back pain (15.3%), renal colic (15.3%), Sprain (excluding back/neck pain) (6.9%), Contusion (6.4%), acute neck pain (5.8%), abdominal pain (4.9%), and other (27.2%). Opioids prescribed: oxycodone (47%), morphine (37%) and hydromorphone (16%). Means quantity of opioid pills prescribed: 24 (IC95%: 23-26). Filled opioid prescription: 92%. Means quantity of opioid pills consumed: 8 (IC95%: 7-9). Means quantity of unused opioids pills: 16. Opioid pills available for misuse in our cohort: 5,600 pills. Conclusion: After an ED visit for acute pain a significant portion of opioids prescribed is unused and available for misuse. A large pragmatic study should be done to confirm that an opioid prescription strategy based on our results will limit unused opioid pills while maintaining pain relief.


CJEM ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (S1) ◽  
pp. S66-S66
Author(s):  
R. Daoust ◽  
J. Paquet ◽  
J. Morris ◽  
A. Cournoyer ◽  
E. Piette ◽  
...  

Introduction: Most studies evaluating prescription opioid dependence or misuse are retrospective and are based on prescription filling rates from pharmaceutical databases. These studies cannot evaluate if opioids are really consumed nor differentiate if used for a new pain, chronic pain, or for misuse/dependence. The aim of this study was to assess the opioid consumption in emergency department (ED) patients three months after discharge with an opioid prescription. Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted in the ED of a tertiary care centre with a convenience sample of patients aged 18 years and older, recruited 24/7, who consulted and were discharged for an acute pain condition ( 2 weeks). We excluded patients who: did not speak French or English, were using opioid medication prior to their ED visit, with an ED stay > 48 hours, or suffering from cancer or chronic pain. Three months post-ED visit, participants were contacted by phone for a structured interview on their past two-week opioid use, their reasons for consuming them, and also answered the Rapid Opioid Dependence Screen (RODS) questionnaire. Results: In the 524 participants interviewed at three months (mean age ± SD: 51±16 years, 47% women), 44 (8.4%) patients consumed opioids in the previous two weeks. Among those, 72% consumed opioids for their initial pain, 19% for a new unrelated pain, and 9% for another reason. In this entire cohort, only five patients (1%) tested positive to opioid dependence from the RODS test. The low dependence incidence could be affected by a social desirability bias. Conclusion: This study suggests that opioid use at 3-month, for patients initially treated for acute pain, is associated with opioid dependency in 1% or possible misuse in only 9%. Additional prospective studies using multiple methods to measure opioids consumption, misuse, and dependence are needed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 019394592110303
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Gaul ◽  
Tracy Barbour ◽  
Amy S. Nowacki ◽  
Sharon E. Mace

Pain is a common complaint in the emergency department. An alternative to opioids is desirable. Oral medications are not feasible with gastrointestinal disorders or NPO. Intravenous medications require skill and time. Intravenous/intramuscular medications are painful with potential needlestick injury. Intranasal medications have rapid onset, easy administration, do not need skilled providers, and no risk of needlestick injury. A total of 28 adults with acute pain (numeric rating scale ≥ 4) received intranasal ketorolac. Numeric rating scale decreased in all: 32% complete pain relief, median (interquartile range) decrease −5 (−6.8 to −4) ( p < .001). Pain relief onset was median [interquartile range] 5 (2.3, 15.0) min. Vital signs remained normal. There were no nasal mucosal changes, no complications. Minor side effects, mostly nasal burning, in 43%, resolved within 5 min. Patients and nurses were satisfied with intranasal ketorolac, and would use it again. Intranasal ketorolac had a rapid onset, was effective, safe, well tolerated with minor side effects that resolved quickly.


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