Time perspective as a moderator of a relationship between preoperative pain and acute postoperative pain.

The aim of this article was to test time perspective as a moderator of the relationship between pain before surgery and acute postoperative pain. Time perspective (ZTPI) and pain before surgery (SF-MPQ) were assessed pre-operatively in 112 patients. The results suggest that past-negative time perspective and fatalistic perspective are significant moderators of the link between preoperative pain and acute postoperative pain. In a case of weak past-negative perspective and weak present-fatalistic perspective, the relationship between preoperative pain and acute postoperative pain is not significant.

Pain begets pain. When marathon runners are not in pain anymore, they underestimate their memory of marathon pain--A mediation analysis.

BACKGROUND: A previous study has shown that memory of pain induced by running a marathon might be underestimated. However, little is known about the factors that might influence such a memory distortion during pain recall. The aim of the study was to investigate the memory of pain induced by running a marathon and the factors that might influence it: (1) present pain during recall and (2) recall delay. METHODS: A total of 127 marathon runners participated in the study, which comprised of two phases. After completion of the marathon, participants were asked to rate the intensity and the unpleasantness of their pain. Either a week or a month later, they were asked again to rate the intensity and the unpleasantness of the remembered and present pain experience. RESULTS: Participants underestimated remembered pain intensity and pain unpleasantness only if they did not experience pain during recall (p < 0.05). We observed a trend for underestimation after a week (p = 0.09) and significant effect after a month (p < 0.05) of recall delay. Furthermore, present pain intensity during recall significantly mediated the memory of pain intensity induced by running the marathon, but only after a month. Similarly, present pain unpleasantness during recall significantly mediated the memory of pain unpleasantness, but only after a month. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that memory of pain induced by running the marathon is underestimated after a month of recall delay and mediated by present pain during recall. SIGNIFICANCE: This study explores factors acting during recall, influencing memory of naturally occurring pain induced by physical effort. The empirical findings provide the first robust evidence for a causal relationship between memory of pain and present pain during recall.

Time perspective as a predictor of acute postsurgical pain and coping with pain following abdominal surgery.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to predict acute postsurgical pain and coping with pain following surgery based on preoperative time perspectives. Time perspective is a basic dimension of psychological time. It is a tendency to focus on a particular time area: the past, the present and the future. METHOD: Seventy-six patients completed measures of time perspective and pain 24 h before abdominal surgery. During the 3 days after surgery, measures of pain and coping with pain were completed. RESULTS: We performed hierarchical regression analyses to identify predictors of acute postsurgical pain and how patients cope with it. These analyses suggested that a preoperative past-negative time perspective can be a predictor of postoperative pain level and catastrophizing after surgery. CONCLUSION: The findings of our study indicate the importance of time perspective, especially the past perspective, in dealing with postoperative pain. SIGNIFICANCE: Our research indicates that a preoperative past-negative time perspective is a significant predictor of acute postsurgical pain intensity and the strongest predictor of pain catastrophizing.

Psychological correlates of acute postsurgical pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Due to the frequency of surgeries, acute postsurgical pain (APSP) is a common problem. However, the role of psychological factors in the experience of this kind of pain has not been well established. In this review, we focused on presurgical psychological factors associated with the experience of APSP. A systematic search of articles was performed using PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, Cochrane and DARE. For each study, we assessed the risk of bias, the level of evidence, the corresponding score points and the degree of association with APSP. Separate meta-analyses were performed for the selected variables. Fifty-three relevant publications were selected. Pain catastrophizing, optimism, expectation of pain, neuroticism, anxiety (state and trait), negative affect and depression were classified as likely associated with APSP. Only one of the analysed psychological variables - locus of control - was recognized as shown unlikely association with APSP. Results of meta-analyses suggested that pain catastrophizing was most strongly linked with APSP. Results of the studies reviewed suggest that patients who do not exaggerate the negative aspects of the situation and who have positive expectation of the future before undergoing surgery report lower levels of APSP than patients who catastrophize pain and expect negative events in the future. An increasing interest in preoperative positive psychological variables has been observed over the last few years in studies of surgical patients. WHAT DOES THIS REVIEW ADD?: Pain catastrophizing, optimism, expectation of pain, neuroticism, anxiety (state and trait), negative affect and depression were classified as likely associated with acute postsurgical pain, and locus of control was classified as unlikely associated with acute postsurgical pain. Anxiety was the psychological variable most frequently measured before surgery. Pain catastrophizing was most strongly linked with acute postsurgical pain.

The effect of the type of pain on the accuracy of memory of pain and affect.

BACKGROUND: Memory of chronic, acute and experimental pain may be inaccurate, but the research findings are inconsistent. The main aim of the study was to compare the memory of three types of pain and their associated affect. METHODS: A total of 140 women, who gave birth by vaginal delivery or Caesarean section, or underwent gynaecological surgery, participated in the study. Before childbirth or surgery, the women rated their anxiety about the pain they would experience. Between 24 and 48 h after childbirth or surgery, they rated the intensity and unpleasantness of the pain, and their positive and negative affect. Either 3 or 6 months later, the participants recalled the pain and affect they had felt. RESULTS: The study found that the type of pain had an effect on memory of pain and affect. Surgery led to an overestimation of all but one of the recalled variables. Participants who gave birth by Caesarean section were the most accurate at recalling pain and affect. Memories of pain and affect were most variable in participants who gave birth by vaginal delivery. The three groups of participants differed in terms of the predictors of recalled pain intensity and unpleasantness, and the proportion of variance predicted by the same independent variables. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the current study suggest that memory of pain and affect is influenced by the meaning and affective value of the pain experience. This may help us to understand why the previous research on the memory of pain were so diverse.

[2 successful pregnancies in a woman with type I osteogenesis imperfecta]. / Zwei erfolgreiche Schwangerschaften einer an Osteogenesis imperfecta Typ I erkrankten Frau.

The chance of a woman with osteogenesis imperfecta to succeed in a pregnancy with a healthy baby and without any harm to herself, is poor. A case of a 37-year old patient is presented, who consciously became pregnant twice, despite her severe illness. Both pregnancies finally resulted in Caesarean section, but without any complications to the patient. While the first child, a boy, is healthy, the second, a girl, is expected to suffer from phosphate diabetes since the father suffered from this illness.