COMT rs4818, pain sensitivity and duration, and alveolar bone grafting of oral clefts

Verifying whether the mutation in COMT rs4818 could be involved in pain modulation.

Thirty-two individuals born with cleft lip and palate that underwent bone graft from the iliac crest bone were assessed at 12, 24, 48, 72 h, and 7 days regarding their pain experience using a visual analogic scale. DNA from each participant was collected from saliva samples, and genotyping of rs4818 was performed using TaqMan chemistry. Overrepresentation of rs4818 alleles was tested using chi-square or Fisher's exact tests with an alpha of 0.05.

Of the 32 individuals, eighteen reported long pain duration, nine reported high pain intensity, and fourteen low pain intensity up to 48 h. No differences were found in the distribution of individuals depending on the reported pain by sex (p = 0.12), age (p = 0.42), or cleft type (p = 0.5). The distribution of COMT r4818 alleles was different depending on the intensity and duration of pain. Carriers of the C wild-type allele were four times more likely to show high pain intensity and duration (odds ratio = 4.29, 95% confidence interval 1.13-16.18), meaning that the G variant allele is protective.

COMT rs4818 is associated with postoperative pain after alveolar bone grafting.