Pain Experiences of Men and Women After Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery

Abstract

Forty-seven percent of the women (n = 8) had moderate to severe pain described as the "worst pain in previous 24 hours with movement" 9 weeks following discharge from CABG surgery. More women were divorced, widowed, or single (P = .0002). There was a statistically significant between-groups difference, with more women reporting moderate to severe pain with movement (P = .03), as well as greater interference with walking (P = .01) and sleeping (P = .01) due to pain. Further research with larger sample sizes should investigate what conditions lead to the sex differences in the pain experience after CABG surgery, what mechanisms and support structures underlie these differences, and how these differences can inform the clinical management of pain.

Most Frequent and Severe Symptoms and Learning Needs among CABG Patients

“…Regarding sleep disturbances as one of the most reported symptoms, it could be related to drugs' side effects (ACE Inhibitors and statin medications), or due to incisional pain and anxiety which were highly reported, especially in first month when lying on their back, this combination can contribute to sleeplessness (Gallagher et al, 2004, Hartford, 2005, Parry et al, 2010Schulz et al, 2011;Whitman, 2004). Furthermore, patients with a leave from jobs may stay home in the first month postdischarge, spending more of the day sleeping thus decreasing their ability to sleep at night causing insomnia (Parry et al, 2008).…”

“…The reason for reporting incisional pain as the most common one is that CABG surgery involves many pain-sensitive structures, including sternotomy and leg incisions with cutting of subcutaneous muscle, bone, and visceral tissues (Parry et al, 2010). Surgical cardiac pain can be visceral or somatic, arising from tissue injury and inflammation, and neuropathic, resulting from direct injury to nerves (Koltzenburg , 2002).…”

Effectiveness of Pain Management in Hospital in the Home Programs

“…Pain persists at moderate-tosevere levels for a majority of hospitalized patients irrespective of age or medical specialty. 15,16,52 Nurses and doctors consistently and systematically underestimate pain in hospitalized patients. 8,10 Doctors tend to underprescribe analgesics while nurses tend to underadminister available analgesic medications.…”

“…Two hundred thirty-two (93.2%) of the 250 patients who experienced pain had pain in hospital before being transferred to HITH. Of these patients, 52.2% (n = 132) were prescribed analgesics to take home with them; the remaining 118 patients experiencing pain were not prescribed analgesics and either sourced analgesics once home (n = 81, 68.1%) or did not take any analgesics (n = 38, 31.9%).…”

Effect of Listening to Preferred Music on Intensity of Pain and Physiologic Parameters in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Surgery

“…Acute pain after cardiac surgery is very common [4,5,6,7,8,9]. Most previous studies showed that cardiac surgery patients experienced moderate to severe pain [3,5].…”