Prediction of postoperative pain

SummaryPain is a complex subjective experience with sensory-discriminative, emotional-affective and cognitive-evaluative components. Postoperative pain is associated with considerable psychological and physiological distress that may impede postoperative recovery and lead to increased morbidity and development of persistent post-surgical pain. There seems to be a considerable individual variability in postoperative pain perception even following standardized surgical procedures. Implementation of clinically relevant preoperative screening methods may facilitate more aggressive pain therapies specifically targeted at high-risk individuals, a strategy that may improve postoperative rehabilitation and morbidity. This article reviews data on the predictive potential in postoperative pain of the surgical procedure, preoperative pain, age, gender, anxiety, depression, neuroticism, psycho-physiological assessments, catastrophizing, genetics and pharmacogenetics, and acute opioid tolerance.