Acute Postoperative Pain Prevalence and Intensity in the First 72 Hours

Postoperative pain is poorly studied in developing countries. Severe pain after surgery remains a major problem, occurring in 50% to 70% of the patients. Differences exist across countries. Despite numerous published studies, the degree of pain following many types of surgery in everyday clinical practice is unknown. To improve postoperative pain treatment and develop procedure-specific, optimized pain-treatment protocols, the prevalence and severity of postoperative pain must first be identified. This study aimed to determine the incidence and intensity of acute postoperative pain, to identify populations associated with a higher risk in order to guide resource allocation, and to investigate whether inexpensive analgesic modalities are currently utilized maximally.