Cardiothoracic & vascular anesthesia
Association Between Cathepsin G (CTSG) Variants and Persistent Postoperative Pain After Cardiac Surgery
Authors' conclusion
Variants appear to modulate susceptibility to prolonged post-sternotomy pain.
Study context
- Population
- Caucasian adults undergoing elective cardiac surgery via median sternotomy107 subsample for CTSG measurement
- Participants
- 255 adults
- Exposure
- CTSG genotypes
- Outcome
- Pain intensity (VAS) at rest and with movement
- Follow-up
- 24 hours, 1 month, 6 months, and 12 months
Methodological detailsgenetic association study, Mendelian randomization
- Genetic association study
- Mendelian randomization
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Pain by rs2070697 genotype
rs2070697 GA vs rs2070697 AAOdds ratio (95% CI)P value
1 month at rest
4.329(1.523–12.310)
P = 0.0066 months at rest
4.642(1.535–14.040)
P = 0.0076 months in movement
3.509(1.169–10.530)
P = 0.02512 months in movement
5.754(1.492–22.200)
P = 0.011- rs2236742 AA genotype associated with increased pain at all three time points
- P < 0.05
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | OR (95% CI) | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preoperative informational anxiety (rs2236742)rs2236742 GG vs rs2236742 AA | 0.193 (0.049–0.758) | P = 0.018 | |
| 0.050.21520Odds ratio (log scale) |
Moderate to severe postsurgical pain during movement · 6 months
- 16/250 patients
- 6.4%
Moderate to severe postsurgical pain during movement · 12 months
- 6/178 patients
- 3.3%
Clinical associations with pain
- 1 month: higher BMI
- P = 0.016
- 12 months: women
- P < 0.001
- 12 months: antidepressant use
- P = 0.022
CTSG activity
- Lower in rs2070697 A-allele carriers
- P = 0.03
- No causal association between CTSG activity and pain (Mendelian randomization)
Original publication
Association Between CTSG Variants and Persistent Postoperative Pain After Cardiac Surgery. Anesth Analg. Published 18 May 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →