Managing Post-Operative Pain in Orthopedic Patients: An International Comparison

Area of Science:

• Pain Management
• Orthopedic Surgery
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Opioids are widely used for post-operative pain management in the United States.
• Romania employs a more conservative approach to opioid administration.
• Discrepancies in opioid use may influence patient-reported pain outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare subjective pain control differences between U.S. and Romanian patients undergoing orthopedic surgery.
• To investigate the impact of differing opioid administration strategies on post-operative pain.
• To analyze the influence of sex and gender on pain perception and management.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study involving 244 Romanian and 184 U.S. patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty or specific fracture surgeries.
• Analysis of opioid and non-opioid analgesic use and subjective pain scores within the first 48 hours post-surgery.
• Statistical analysis to compare pain scores and medication use between countries and demographic groups.

Main Results:

• Romanian patients reported higher pain scores in the first 24 hours post-surgery compared to U.S. patients (p < 0.0001).
• U.S. patients reported higher pain scores in the second 24 hours post-surgery compared to Romanian patients (p < 0.0001).
• American females reported higher pain scores than males, irrespective of opioid quantity, while no sex difference was observed in Romanians.

Conclusions:

• Current U.S. post-operative pain management may be optimized for male patients, potentially overlooking female-specific pain experiences.
• Gender appears to influence pain perception more significantly than sex in the context of post-operative pain.
• Further research is needed to develop universally effective and safe pain management strategies for all patients.