Chronic Pain After Childbirth - Caesarean Section Compared to Vaginal Delivery and the Impact of Pre-existing Pain

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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There is no doubt, that surgery is very often the beginning of a chronic pain disorder. C-section is a worldwide performed operation with increasing trend in the developed countries .This prospective cohort study evaluated the incidence of persistent pain after childbirth in respect of the pain status before childbirth and the modus of delivery.

Detailed Description
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There are different variables that may influence the occurrence of chronic pain after childbirth. One of these could be c- section , pain status before childbirth or other psychological factors like fear of birth, irrational cognitive beliefs about delivery and perinatal complications. The pain status (intensity and location), demographic data, anesthesiological details and data about the circumstances of birth are evaluated by structured interview during pregnancy and 3 month and 12 moth after childbirth. The pregnant women received an individual code for access to the survey on the website of the study. The recruitment takes placed in doctors or midwifes office and by advertising. The commuting area was the city of Tuebingen (Germany). Women who feel uncomfortable with the media based survey supplied a written form. Study population is planned with 500 participants. The Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Applied Biometry support the statistical analysis.

Official Title
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Incidence and Predictors of Chronic Pain After Vaginal Childbirth and C-section - a Prospective Cohort Study

Conditions
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Chronic Pain

Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: age of consent must be german-speaking Exclusion Criteria: - no written consent

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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Female

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Incidence of new chronic pain disorder after vaginal delivery and after c-section | Surgery is often mentioned as cause of persistent postsurgical pain. C-section procedure could be related to the development of chronic pain after childbirth. | 3 months after delivery | 
| Incidence of new chronic pain disorder after vaginal delivery and after c-section | Surgery is often mentioned as cause of persistent postsurgical pain. C-section procedure could be related to the development of chronic pain after childbirth. | 12 month after delivery | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Quality of Life (SF 12) after 12 months of delivery | The 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) was developed for Medical Outcomes Study of patients with chronic conditions. Analysis of SF 12 in woman with chronic pain and without chronic pain after delivery | 12 months after delivery | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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childbirth, caesarean delivery, vaginal delivery, chronic pain, painful sexual intercourse