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Background: Postoperative pain poses a significant challenge to the healthcare system and patient satisfaction and is associated with chronic pain and long-term narcotic use. However, systemic assessment of the quality of postoperative pain management in China remains unavailable. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed data collected from a nationwide registry, China Acute Postoperative Pain Study (CAPOPS), between September 2019 and August 2021. Patients aged 18 years or above were required to complete a self-reported pain outcome questionnaire on the first postoperative day (POD1). Perioperative pain management and pain-related outcomes, including the severity of pain, adverse events caused by pain or pain management, and perception of care and satisfaction with pain management were analyzed. Findings: A total of 26,193 adult patients were enrolled. There were 48.7% of patients who had moderate-to-severe pain on the first day after surgery, and pain severity was associated with poor recovery and patient satisfaction. The systemic opioid use was 68% on the first day after surgery, and 89% of them were used with intravenous patient-controlled analgesia, while the rate of postoperative nerve blocks was low. Interpretation: Currently, almost half of patients still suffer from moderate-to-severe pain after surgery in China. The relatively high rate of systemic opioid use and low rate of nerve blocks used after surgery suggests that more effort is needed to improve the management of acute postoperative pain in China. Funding: National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2018YFC2001905).
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BACKGROUND: Dexmedetomidine (DEX) is widely used for adjuvant sedation and analgesia in gastrointestinal surgeries. The authors aimed to reassess the effects of intraoperative DEX on acute pain by comprehensive analysis of the multiple dimensions of pain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this multicentre cohort study, patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgeries were prospectively enrolled in the China Acute Postoperative Pain Study. Patients were divided into DEX and non-DEX groups based on whether DEX was used during surgery. Patient satisfaction with pain treatment (rated on a numeric rating score, 0-10) and other pain-related outcomes were evaluated using the International Pain Outcome Questionnaire on the first postoperative day. The effects of intraoperative DEX were analyzed using logistic or linear regression for dichotomous or continuous variables, respectively. Propensity score matching and subgroup analyses were performed to appraise the correlation between intraoperative DEX and postoperative pain outcomes. RESULTS: Of the 1260 patients eligible for analysis, 711 (56.4%) received intraoperative DEX. Propensity score matching resulted in 415 patients in each group. Intraoperative DEX was associated with higher patient satisfaction (ß: 0.556; 95% CI: 0.366-0.745), and a decrease in the percentage of time spent in severe pain (ß: -0.081; 95% CI: -0.104- -0.058), anxiety (odds ratio: 0.394; 95% CI: 0.307-0.506), helplessness (odds ratio: 0.539; 95% CI: 0.411-0.707), and postoperative opioid consumption (ß: -16.342; 95% CI: -27.528- -5.155). CONCLUSIONS: Intraoperative DEX was associated with the prognosis of acute postoperative pain in multiple aspects in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery, including increased patient satisfaction, and a reduction in the duration of severe pain, postoperative anxiety and helplessness, and postoperative opioid consumption. Future studies to determine the dose and timing of DEX administration on pain-related outcomes are warranted.