Patient characteristics by maximum acute pain category
| Mild pain (N=40) | Moderate pain (N=40) | Severe pain (N=44) | Association with numeric pain score | |
| Patient variables | ||||
| Age (years) | 63.00 (55.00, 67.00) | 57.50 (49.50, 67.00) | 53.50 (46.50, 64.00) | 0.01* |
| Height (cm) | 163.27 (6.89) | 164.16 (6.08) | 162.20 (5.18) | 0.53* |
| Weight (kg) | 77.73 (69.00, 88.05) | 72.56 (64.00, 84.37) | 75.75 (70.25, 94.00) | 0.80* |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 29.95 (25.81, 34.06) | 27.87 (23.44, 31.35) | 28.99 (26.32, 35.22) | 0.77* |
| Race | 0.88† | |||
| African American | 12 (30.00) | 7 (17.50) | 14 (31.82) | |
| Caucasian | 26 (65.00) | 31 (77.50) | 29 (65.91) | |
| Other | 2 (5.00) | 2 (5.00) | 1 (2.27) | |
| Education | 0.38† | |||
| College | 18 (56.25) | 23 (60.53) | 19 (46.34) | |
| High school | 4 (12.50) | 5 (13.16) | 12 (29.27) | |
| Less than high school | 4 (12.50) | 2 (5.26) | 3 (7.32) | |
| Master’s degree/PhD | 6 (18.75) | 8 (21.05) | 7 (17.07) | |
| Preoperative breast pain | 5 (12.50) | 5 (12.50) | 11 (25.00) | 0.36‡ |
| Previous breast surgery | 5 (12.50) | 7 (17.50) | 10 (22.73) | 0.27‡ |
| Previous chemotherapy | 7 (17.50) | 13 (32.50) | 15 (34.09) | 0.08‡ |
| Previous radiotherapy | 4 (10.00) | 3 (7.50) | 0 (0.00) | 0.06‡ |
| Baseline questionnaire scores | ||||
| STAI score | 46.50 (41.50, 49.00) | 47.00 (42.00, 50.50) | 45.00 (42.00, 51.00) | 0.78* |
| Total MTS score (TS10–TS1) | 0.00 (0.00, 0.50) | 0.00 (0.00, 1.00) | 0.00 (0.00, 1.00) | 0.24* |
| MTS positive | 10 (25.00) | 18 (45.00) | 16 (38.10) | 0.29‡ |
| DNIC | 0.00 (−1.00, 2.00) | 0.00 (−0.70, 1.40) | 0.40 (−1.00, 2.00) | 0.68* |
| Total PCS | 4.00 (1.00, 8.00) | 4.50 (0.50, 10.00) | 10.50 (2.00, 17.00) | 0.02* |
| Total PCS category | <0.01† | |||
| <10 | 32 (80.00) | 28 (70.00) | 20 (45.45) | |
| 10–19 | 6 (15.00) | 10 (25.00) | 15 (34.09) | |
| ≥20 | 2 (5.00) | 2 (5.00) | 9 (20.45) | |
| BDI score | 5.00 (2.00, 9.50) | 5.00 (3.00, 7.00) | 8.00 (4.00, 14.00) | 0.01* |
| Surgery-related variables | ||||
| Laterality (bilateral) | 3 (7.50) | 8 (20.00) | 14 (31.82) | 0.02‡ |
| Type of axillary surgery | 0.46† | |||
| Axillary dissection | 3 (7.50) | 10 (25.00) | 6 (13.64) | |
| Sentinel node biopsy | 27 (67.50) | 19 (47.50) | 21 (47.73) | |
| None | 10 (25.00) | 11 (27.50) | 17 (38.64) | |
| Type of breast surgery | <0.01† | |||
| Mastectomy with reconstruction | 1 (2.50) | 2 (5.00) | 10 (22.73) | |
| Modified radical mastectomy | 2 (5.00) | 4 (10.00) | 6 (13.64) | |
| Partial mastectomy | 30 (75.00) | 21 (52.50) | 20 (45.45) | |
| Simple mastectomy | 7 (17.50) | 13 (32.50) | 8 (18.18) | |
| Surgeon | 0.06† | |||
| 1 | 12 (30.00) | 13 (32.50) | 17 (38.64) | |
| 2 | 3 (7.50) | 13 (32.50) | 12 (27.27) | |
| 3 | 23 (57.50) | 12 (30.00) | 12 (27.27) | |
| 4* | 2 (5.00) | 2 (5.00) | 3 (6.82) | |
| Duration of surgery (min) | 88.00 (60.00, 113.00) | 111.00 (86.50, 156.50) | 136.00 (79.50, 187.00) | <0.01* |
| Intraoperative opioids (mg morphine equivalents) | 2.25 (1.50, 3.75) | 2.25 (1.50, 3.30) | 3.00 (2.25, 4.50) | <0.01* |
| Regular analgesia | 4 (10.00) | 5 (12.50) | 5 (11.36) | 0.71‡ |
| Paravertebral block | 26 (65.00) | 23 (57.50) | 19 (43.18) | 0.04‡ |
| General anesthesia | 18 (45.00) | 20 (50.00) | 31 (70.45) | 0.01‡ |
Data are median (Q1, Q3), mean (SD), or count (%).
**Surgeon ID 4 is a combination of two surgeons who each treated five patients or less.
†: *Spearman correlation; † Kruskal-Wallis test; ‡ Wilcoxon Rank Sum test
BDI, Beck depression inventory; BMI, body mass index; DNIC, diffuse noxious inhibitory control; MTS, mechanical temporal summation; PCS, pain catastrophizing scale; STAI, state trait anxiety inventory.