• Patrícia R Pinto, Teresa McIntyre, Vera Araújo-Soares, Patrício Costa, and Armando Almeida.
• Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, Campus de Gualtar, University of Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal, patipinto@gmail.com.
• Ann Behav Med. 2015 Jun 1;49(3):384-97.

BackgroundPsychological factors have a significant role in post-surgical pain, and their study can inform pain management.PurposeThe aims of this study are to identify psychological predictors of post-surgical pain following abdominal hysterectomy (AH) and major joint arthroplasty (MJA) and to investigate differential predictors by type of surgery.MethodOne hundred forty-two women undergoing AH and 110 patients undergoing MJA were assessed 24 h before (T1) and 48 h after (T2) surgery.ResultsA predictive post-surgical pain model was found for AH and MJA yielding pre-surgical pain experience and pain catastrophizing as significant predictors and a significant interaction of pre-surgical optimism and surgery type. Separate regression models by surgery type showed that pre-surgical optimism was the best predictor of post-surgical pain after MJA, but not after AH.ConclusionsFindings highlight the relevance of psychological predictors for both surgeries and the value of targeting specific psychological factors by surgery type in order to effectively manage acute post-surgical pain.

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