Association between self‐reported pain experiences in hospital and ratings of care, readmission and emergency department visits: a population‐based study from New South Wales, Australia
Authors' conclusion
This study highlights the importance of adequate pain management in patients' perception of care and recovery outcomes, especially among culturally and linguistically diverse patients.
Study context
- Population
- Adult patients responding to the 2019 Adult Admitted Patient Survey, 75 large public hospitals, New South Wales, Australia35% response rate
- Participants
- 21,900 patients
- Exposure
- Pain vs no pain in hospital; adequate vs inadequate pain management
- Outcome
- Self-reported overall care ratings, readmission and ED visits
- Follow-up
- Within one month of discharge
Methodological detailspopulation-based, multivariable logistic regression adjusted for population weight, mediation analysis
- Population-based
- Multivariable logistic regression adjusted for population weight
- Mediation analysis
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Pain experiences and post-discharge outcomes
Adjusted odds ratio (95% CI)
Painpoor to very poor care ratings
2.05(1.42–2.95)
Painreadmission
1.92(1.55–2.37)
PainED visit after discharge
1.91(1.58–2.32)
Adequate pain managementreadmission
0.69(0.51–0.94)
Adequate pain managementED visits
0.62(0.44–0.87)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Adequate pain management by patient characteristics
| aOR (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people | 0.74 (0.58–0.96) | |
| Language other than English | 0.82 (0.70–0.96) | |
| 0.512Adjusted odds ratio (log scale) |
Prevalence and severity of pain in hospital
- Patients reporting pain
- 51%
- Pain classified as severe (of those with pain)
- 38.3%
Mediation by adequate pain management of pain severity effect (mediation analysis)
- Hospital rating
- 50.8%
- Readmission
- 11.6%
- ED visits
- 5.9%
- After adjusting for all available observed confounders
Original publication
Association between self‐reported pain experiences in hospital and ratings of care, readmission and emergency department visits: a population‐based study from New South Wales, Australia. Anaesthesia. Published 25 November 2024. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →