Perioperative Pain Threshold Trajectories and Influencing Factors Among Lung Cancer Patients.

Purpose: Managing postoperative pain in lung cancer patients remains challenging. Pain threshold (PT), an objective indicator reflecting the body's sensitivity to pain, can be used to predict postoperative pain. This study aims to investigate the dynamic trajectory of perioperative pain threshold in lung cancer patients, hypothesizing that heterogeneity exists in the pain threshold trajectories.

Methods: This study was conducted on 325 patients who underwent lung cancer surgery in the thoracic surgery department of a tertiary hospital between April 2024 and June 2024 in Wuhan, China. The patients' pain thresholds were investigated on the day of admission, one day postoperatively, and three days postoperatively. The Group-Based Trajectory Model (GBTM) was used to identify the trajectories and categories of pain threshold changes. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was employed to investigate the factors influencing the different trajectories.

Results: Four distinct trajectories of pain thresholds were identified: high pain threshold smoothly decline group, medium-high pain threshold elastically decline group, medium pain threshold smoothly decline group, and low pain threshold smoothly decline group. Gender, alcohol consumption, diabetes comorbidity, and psychological scales (GAD-7, SRSS, PCS) were found to influence the categories of pain threshold trajectories (p < .05).

Conclusions: Healthcare providers should develop a personalized pain management guidance plan for patients belonging to different trajectory categories, to elevate the pain threshold levels of lung cancer patients and promote their postoperative recovery, thus improving their quality of life.