Premium
Effect of gender on acute pain prediction and memory in periodontal surgery
Author(s) -
Eli Ilana,
Baht Roni,
Kozlovsky Avital,
Simon Hanita
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
european journal of oral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.802
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1600-0722
pISSN - 0909-8836
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0722.2000.00777.x
Subject(s) - medicine , anxiety , physical therapy , visual analogue scale , cognition , postoperative pain , acute pain , pain catastrophizing , chronic pain , anesthesia , psychiatry
Pain is a complex experience that is affected by factors such as gender, stress, anxiety and cognitions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the inter‐relationship between gender and acute pain prediction and memory under periodontal surgery treatment. The study was conducted on 15 male and 22 female dental patients (mean age 34 yr, mean education level 14.7 yr), who were scheduled for periodontal surgery. Patients were evaluated during four consecutive appointments: at initial check‐up, immediately pre‐operatively, 1 wk post‐operatively, and at 4 wk post‐operative follow‐up. Patients were requested to complete questionnaires concerning their anxiety at each appointment and to indicate their subjective evaluations concerning pain (on a visual analogue scale). Evaluations concerning expectation to experience pain during the planned surgery (pain prediction) were made at the first two appointments and evaluations of the experienced pain as remembered from the surgery (pain memory) were made at the last two appointments. Gender had a significant effect on pain prediction and pain memory. Men expected to experience more pain pre‐operatively than women but remembered less pain post‐operatively. It was concluded that cognitive pain perception in clinical situations differs between genders.