Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-16-2020
Abstract
Objective
Within the context of the United States opioid epidemic, some parents often fear the use of opioids to help manage their children's postoperative pain. As a possible consequence, parents often do not dispense optimal analgesic medications to their children after surgery, putting their children at risk of suffering from postsurgical pain. The objective of this research was to assess ethnicity as a predictor of both pain and opioid consumption, and to examine how Hispanic/Latinx and Non-Hispanic White parents alter their child's opioid consumption in response to significant postsurgical pain.
Methods
Participants were 254 children undergoing outpatient tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy surgery and their parents. Longitudinal multilevel modeling examined changes in both parent-reported pain and hydrocodone/APAP consumption (mg/kg) on days 1 to 7 after surgery.
Results
Parent reports of postoperative pain were higher in Hispanic/Latinx patients compared to their Non-Hispanic White counterparts (β = −0.15; 95% CI: −0.28, −0.01). There was also a significant interaction of ethnicity and pain on opioid consumption (β = 0.07; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.13). The relationship between parent perceived pain and opioid use was stronger for Non-Hispanic White children, suggesting that this group was more likely to consume opioids to help manage clinically significant postsurgical pain.
Conclusions
Hispanic/Latinx children might be at risk for undertreatment of surgical pain. Findings highlight the importance of assessing parent background and cultural beliefs as predictors of at home pain management and the potential effectiveness of tailored interventions that educate parents about monitoring and treating child postoperative pain.
Recommended Citation
Donaldson CD, Jenkins, BN, Fortier, MA, et al. Parent responses to pediatric pain: The differential effects of ethnicity on opioid consumption. J Psychosom Res. 2020;138:110251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.110251
Copyright
Elsevier
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Included in
Anesthesia and Analgesia Commons, Health and Medical Administration Commons, Medicine and Health Commons, Other Medicine and Health Sciences Commons, Other Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Commons, Other Psychiatry and Psychology Commons, Other Psychology Commons, Pain Management Commons, Pediatrics Commons, Pharmacy Administration, Policy and Regulation Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Surgery Commons
Comments
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Psychosomatic Research. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Psychosomatic Research, volume 138, in 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.110251
The Creative Commons license below applies only to this version of the article.