MAGNITUDE AND FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH POSTOPERATIVE PAIN AMONG ADULTS SURGICAL PATIENTS IN GAMBELLA GENERAL HOSPITAL, GAMBELLA TOWN, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Abstract Background: Postoperative pain continues to be a serious consequence of surgical intervention and understanding the magnitude and associated factors of postoperative pain will allow health workers to better direct resources to ameliorate significantly high levels of postoperative pain. Several factors may contribute to the development of postoperative pain; it could be preoperative factors, demographic factors, anesthetic factors, and surgical factors. Objective: This study aimed of assessing the magnitude and factors associated with Postoperative Pain among Surgical Patients in Gambella General Hospital, Gambella Town, Ethiopia, 2021. Method: A hospital-based follow up study was done from April 15 to June 30 2021 in Gambella general hospital. A consecutive sampling technique was employed for all patients who were operated upon both under general and regional anesthesia during the study period was included. The participants were followed for 72 hours. Descriptive statistics, cross-tabs, and bivariate logistic regression analysis with p-value<0.25 were performed to identify the association between post-surgical pain and independent variables. The strength of the association was presented using AOR with a 95% confidence interval and a p-value<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result: 270 data were collected, of these; a total of 265 with a 91.4% response rate were recruited with an age range from 18-60 years old. The overall incidence of postoperative pain was 77.0% with (95% CI: 71.7, 82.0). On The multivariate main analysis, associated factors of postoperative pain were age 18-45year old AOR 2.8(1.13, 6.74, p=0.026)), ASAI& II AOR 2.5 (CI: 1.08, 5.84 p=0.03), length of skin incision?10cm AOR 2.5 CI (1.30, 5.13 and p=0.007), and preoperative pain 2.4 (1.02, 5.60 and p=0.045). Conclusion: The overall finding showed that the magnitude of postoperative pain was 77% among adult surgical patients in Gambella general hospital. Age, ASA, length of skin incision, and preoperative pain were the independent associated factors for the occurrence of postoperative pain. Recommendation: According to the finding of this study, we recommended that the hospital should ensure adequate perioperative pain management among adult surgical patients in order to reduce the incidence of postoperative pain, and the length of surgical skin incisions should be minimized