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Chronic pain following total hip arthroplasty: a nationwide questionnaire study
Author(s) -
Nikolajsen L.,
Brandsborg B.,
Lucht U.,
Jensen T. S.,
Kehlet H.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
acta anaesthesiologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1399-6576
pISSN - 0001-5172
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-6576.2006.00976.x
Subject(s) - medicine , chronic pain , orthopedic surgery , confidence interval , physical therapy , psychosocial , arthroplasty , hip pain , surgery , psychiatry
Background: Chronic post‐operative pain is a well‐recognized problem after various types of surgery, but little is known about chronic pain after orthopedic surgery. Severe pre‐operative pain is the primary indication for total hip arthroplasty (THA). Therefore, we examined the prevalence of chronic pain after THA in relation to pre‐operative pain and early post‐operative pain. Methods: A questionnaire was sent to 1231 consecutive patients who had undergone THA 12–18 months previously, and whose operations had been reported to the Danish Hip Arthroplasty Registry. Results: The response rate was 93.6%. Two hundred and ninety‐four patients (28.1%) had chronic ipsilateral hip pain at the time of completion of the questionnaire, and pain limited daily activities to a moderate, severe or very severe degree in 12.1%. The chronic pain state was related to the recalled intensity of early post‐operative pain [95% confidence interval (CI), 20.4–33.4%] and pain complaints from other sites of the body (95% CI, 20.7–32.1%), but not to the pre‐operative intensity of pain. Conclusion: Chronic pain after THA seems to be a significant problem in at least 12.1% of patients. Our results suggest that genetic and psychosocial factors are important for the development of chronic post‐THA pain.