Higher pain catastrophizing scale is associated with more postoperative pain within the first week after rotator cuff repair.

Abstract

Many psychological factors play a role in the patient's reported pain after rotator cuff surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of preoperative pain catastrophizing, assessed using the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), on early postoperative pain following rotator cuff repair. A prospective case series was conducted. Patients who underwent a rotator cuff repair in our hospital were included consecutively for 6 months in 2024. The PCS was used preoperatively to evaluate patient's apprehensions about pain. The primary outcome measure was the visual analog scale (VAS) as compared between both group on postoperative Days 0-5. A total of 33 patients were included in the study, with 16 patients in the low PCS group (mean PCS score of 4.6) and 16 patients in the high PCS group (mean PCS score of 25.0). Pain scores, measured using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), were significantly higher in the high PCS group compared to the low PCS group at all time points. On Day 2 (D2), the VAS pain score was 2.0 (1.8; 4.0) in the low PCS group and 5.0 (2.0; 8.0) in the high PCS group (<i>p</i> = 0.02). On Day 3 (D3), scores were 2.0 (1.0; 3.0) and 5.5 (1.8; 7.3), respectively (<i>p</i> = 0.03). On Day 4 (D4), the scores were 2.0 (0.8; 3.0) in the low PCS group and 4.5 (1.0; 6.0) in the high PCS group (<i>p</i> = 0.03). Finally, on Day 5 (D5), pain scores were 1.5 (0.0; 2.3) for the low PCS group and 4.0 (1.0; 5.3) for the high PCS group (<i>p</i> = 0.04). Patients presenting high levels of catastrophizing experienced more early postoperative pain following arthroscopic rotator cuff repair surgery than patients with low levels of catastrophizing. IV.