Acute postoperative pain in 1 231 patients at a developing country referral hospital: incidence and risk factors

Abstract

Background: Postoperative pain is poorly studied in developing countries. At a Western Cape referral hospital, it was aimed to determine the incidence of acute postoperative pain, to identify populations associated with a higher risk thereof (in order to guide resource allocation) and to investigate whether inexpensive analgesic modalities are currently utilised maximally.