Correlation between patient health questionnaire-2 and postoperative pain in laparoscopic cholecystectomy

• Published in: Anesthesia and pain medicine Vol. 15; no. 2; pp. 241 - 246
• Main Authors: Shin, Yusom, Park, Tae Woo, Kim, Huiyoung, Shim, Dong-Jin, Lee, Hochul, Kim, Joo-Duck, Kang, Donghee
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) Korean Society of Anesthesiologists 30.04.2020; 대한마취통증의학회
• Subjects: analgesics; depression; patient health questionnaire; postoperative pain; 마취과학; Depression; Postoperative pain; Analgesics; Patient health questionnaire
• ISSN: 1975-5171; 2383-7977
• DOI: 10.17085/apm.2020.15.2.241

Postoperative pain is affected by preoperative depression. If the risk of postoperative pain associated with depression can be predicted preoperatively, anesthesiologists and/or surgeons can better manage it with personalized care. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) depression screening tool as a predictor of postoperative pain. A total of 50 patients scheduled for elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy with an American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status 1 or 2 were enrolled. They answered the PHQ-2, which consists of two questions, under the supervision of a researcher on the day before the surgery. The numerical rating scale (NRS) scores were assessed at post-anesthesia care unit (PACU), at 24, and 48 postoperative hours, and the amount of intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) administered was documented at 24, 48, and 72 postoperative hours. At 72 h, the IV-PCA device was removed and the final dosage was recorded. The NRS score in PACU was not significantly associated with the PHQ-2 score (correlation coefficients: 0.13 [P = 0.367]). However, the use of analgesics after surgery was higher in patients with PHQ-2 score of 3 or more (correlation coefficients: 0.33 [P = 0.018]). We observed a correlation between the PHQ-2 score and postoperative pain. Therefore, PHQ-2 could be useful as a screening test for preoperative depression. Particularly, when 3 points were used as the cut-off score, the PHQ-2 score was associated with the dosage of analgesics, and the analgesic demand could be expected to be high with higher PHQ-2 scores.