The prevalence and factors associated with acute postoperative pain in elective gynecologic surgical patients at two referral hospitals in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, 2021: a cross-sectional study

Background: Postoperative pain is an expected and undesirable by-product of all surgical procedures. The provision of effective and safe postoperative pain management should be one of the top priorities of any healthcare, where surgical procedures are carried out. Major abdominal surgical operations require pain management services, regular pain assessment, and timely management of breakthrough pains in the postoperative period. Objective: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with acute postoperative pain. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Minilik and Zewditu Referral hospitals from October to December 2021 and chart review and face-to-face interviews were the methods of data collection. The pain was measured at the 2, 12, and 24 h postoperatively through a numerical rating scale, and the pain was categorized as no pain (score=0), mild pain (score 1–3), moderate pain (score 4–6), or severe pain (score 7–10). All independent variables with P less than or equal to 0.2 in the univariable logistic regression were reanalyzed with multivariable logistic regression at 95% CI to determine predictive factors and a P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: In the study period, a total of 368 eligible patients were involved, out of this 11 patients were discharged before 24 h, four patients refuse to participate two incomplete documentation and one patient was ICU admitted, therefore 350 patients were involved with a response rate of 95.1%. Among those patients 73.1% of respondents’ experience at least one episodes of moderate to severe postoperative pain within the first 24 h. Preoperative anxiety (AOR: 2.2, 95% CI: 1.2, 5.1), urban residency (AOR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.2, 50), participants who have not formal education (AOR: 2.5, 95% CI: 1.3, 4.1), surgical patients without pre-emptive analgesia (AOR: 2.7, 95% CI: 1.3, 3.6), abdominal incision greater than 10 cm (AOR: 3.5, 95% CI: 2.1, 7.2), and surgical duration greater than or equal to 60 min (AOR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1, 3.1) were factors associated with acute postoperative pain following elective gynecologic surgery. Conclusion: In this study, the overall incidence of moderate to severe postoperative pain after gynecologic surgery was unacceptably high, and patients undergoing gynecologic surgical procedures suffer sufficient postoperative pain need of intervention.