A survey of patients' understanding and expectations of persistent postsurgical pain in a preoperative testing center

Acute postoperative pain may transition to persistent/chronic pain in up to 50% or more of patients after certain surgeries. Despite this concern, it is unclear that patients' preprocedure understanding and expectations are aligned with these potential outcomes. This study was designed to evaluate the extent of this alignment and the potential impact on the quality of risk/benefit discussions before procedures.

Prospective survey.

A large, tertiary care preoperative assessment clinic.

A total of 1481 adult patients.

Survey administration.

The survey items evaluated patients' expectations of postoperative pain and how familiar patients were with the risk of persistent postsurgical pain based on their specific characteristics and procedure type.

The overwhelming majority (80%) of patients were unaware of the risk of persistent postsurgical pain. Given the choice, most patients (65%) wanted to be informed of their risk, and 25% stated that it might even affect their decision to proceed with surgery.

There is great need for health care providers to discuss the significant risk of persistent postsurgical pain with patients in the preoperative setting. Patients need to be armed with realistic data to ensure high-quality discussions of risk/benefit, align expectations with outcomes, and potentially identify high-risk groups in which preoperative intervention can reduce the likelihood or severity of persistent postoperative pain syndromes.