March¿s Article of the Month: Effectiveness of Perioperative Psychological Interventions in Postsurgical Pain
The "Article of the Month" initiative, led by the Research and Communication Committee of the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, highlights this March the study “Effectiveness of peri-operative psychological interventions for the reduction of postsurgical pain intensity, depression, anxiety and pain catastrophising”,published in the European Journal of Anaesthesiology , as the article of the month for March.
This study, led by Juan Ramón Castaño, a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Medicine of the UAB, involves the collaboration of professors Juan Vicente Luciano and Albert Feliu, as well as postdoctoral researcher Estíbaliz Royuela from the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, along with researchers from Hospital del Mar and the Institute of Health Research of Aragón. It is a systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating the effectiveness of psychological interventions applied during the perioperative period to reduce postsurgical pain intensity, anxiety, depression, and pain catastrophizing.
Key Findings
The analysis included a total of 27 randomized controlled trials (1462 patients in the intervention group and 1528 in the control group). The results showed that psychological interventions during the perioperative period significantly reduced pain intensity and anxiety compared to usual care. However, the effects on depression and pain catastrophizing were less conclusive.
The study also identified that psychological interventions delivered by psychologists were more effective than those delivered by other healthcare professionals, and that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) seems particularly beneficial in reducing postsurgical pain intensity.
Study Implications
These findings highlight the importance of integrating psychological interventions into the perioperative management of pain, especially in patients at greater risk of pain chronification. According to the authors, early identification of psychological factors such as anxiety and pain catastrophizing could facilitate the design of more personalized and effective strategies to improve postsurgical outcomes.
The study represents a significant advancement in understanding the impact of psychological interventions in the surgical context and reinforces the need to consider these approaches within multidisciplinary care for surgical patients.