Effect of gender on acute pain prediction and memory in periodontal surgery

Abstract

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.

Post-operative pain and use of analgesic agents in children following intrasulcular anaesthesia and various operative procedures

“…14,15 In children, gender-related PDP has shown confl icting results. 3,5 In the present study, gender was non-contributory to frequency of PDP.…”

Memory for Stress-Associated acute pain

“…15,25 Investigation of the role of negative emotion in acute pain memory processing is in its infancy, however, evidence suggests a positive and meaningful association. 14,15,18,23,25 For example, Everts et al 15 contacted patients 6 months after treatment for acute myocardial infarct and requested them to recall their level of pain at the time of treatment. Overall, patients recalled greater pain than was reported during treatment, and their level of recall was positively correlated with emotional distress at the time of treatment.…”

“…10,13,26,28,42 Negative emotions have also been shown to interfere with the accuracy of treatment-related pain recall. 5,14 Given the reliance on patient-provided pain reports for patient management across the care continuum, an understanding of factors that modulate pain memories becomes relevant and important to patients, clinicians, and health care organizations. 4,17,19,27,34,44 Trends in the recall of acute clinical and experimental pain are only now beginning to emerge.…”

Modulation of dental anxiety — the role of past experiences, psychopathologic traits and individual attachment patterns

“…1,19,20 In the present study, the Hebrew version of DAS was used, for which validity has been well established. 11,[21][22][23][24][25] Subjects were presented with both a present and past tense version of the questionnaire as previously reported. 11 The present version related to the level of dental anxiety at present (DASn) and the past version related to the level of dental anxiety as remembered from childhood (DASp).…”