Postoperative Pain After Cesarean Section at University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia, 2019; a Cross-sectional Follow-Up Study

Abstract BackgroundCesarean section is one of the most common obstetric procedures worldwide. Following this, parturients experience moderate to severe pain in the acute postoperative period. Therefore, in resource-limited settings, for full utilization of basic analgesic modalities and to take appropriates interventions, it is vital to know about the magnitude of the problem and its factors.ObjectiveTo assess the prevalence and factors associated with postoperative pain after cesarean section at the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (UoGCSH), Northwest Ethiopia, 2019.MethodsA hospital-based prospective follow-up study was conducted among parturients who undergo cesarean section in the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, from mid-February to April 20, 2019, after approval of the ethical review committee. Consecutively, a total of 290 parturients were included with a response rate of 97%. To measure pain severity numerical rating scale was used. Data was entered into Epi-data version 4.2 and analyzed by SPSS version 20 (IBM Corporate). The association between independent factors and the outcome variable was determined at 95% CI with the chi-squared test, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression. Hosmer-Lemeshow test was used to assess the goodness of fit. Variables with a p-value of < 0.05 were considered significant.ResultsIn this study, the incidence of moderate to severe post-operative pain after cesarean section was 85.5% (95% CI: 81.4%, 89.0%) within the first 24 postoperative hours. On the multi-variable analysis, preoperative anxiety (AOR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1, 4.9), history of previous cesarean section (AOR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1, 5.0), Pfannenstiel incision (AOR: 3.2, 95% CI: 1.3, 8.0) and absence of regional analgesia (AOR: 3.7, 95% CI: 1.7, 7.9) were significantly associated with moderate to severe postoperative pain after cesarean section.ConclusionsIn this study, a large proportion of parturients had experienced moderate to severe post-cesarean pain in the first 24 postoperative hours. Preoperative anxiety, history of previous cesarean section, Pfannenstiel incision, and parturients with no regional analgesia were significantly associated with post-cesarean pain. Pain severity needs to be assessed and documented by using pain-rating scales and there should be an interdisciplinary approach to provide adequate pain management in our hospital.