Abstract: Objective  To investigate the predictors of chronic pain after inguinal hernia surgery.Methods A total of 400 patients with inguinal hernia surgery in our hospital from August 2018 to May 2023 were selected as the study objects.Visual analog scoring (VSA) was used to evaluate postoperative acute pain within 24 h after surgery.The patients were divided into chronic pain group and nonchronic pain group according to whether chronic pain occurred after surgery.Thirty-seven patients with postoperative pain lasting more than 3 months were in the chronic pain group, and the remaining 363 patients were in the non-chronic pain group.Lasso-Logistic regression was used to analyze the predictors of acute and chronic pain after inguinal hernia surgery.ResultsUnivariate analysis showed that there were significant differences in age,BMI,smoking history,preoperative groin pain,intraoperative nerve tension or injury,wound infection and postoperative acute pain between the chronic pain group and the non-chronic pain group (P<0.05).The data were regularized by Lasso regression,and three representative risk factors of chronic postoperative pain,namely preoperative groin pain,intraoperative nerve pulling or injury,and postoperative acute pain,were selected.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that:Preoperative groin pain (OR=2.548,95%CI1.150~5.647),intraoperative nerve tension OR injury (OR=4.435,95%CI2.084~9.436) and postoperative acute pain (OR=2.242,95%CI1.041~4.829) was the factor of chronic pain after operation (P<0.05).Conclusion  Preoperative groin pain,intraoperative nerve pulling or injury,and postoperative acute pain are the factors affecting chronic pain after inguinal hernia.Identifying high-risk groups and taking targeted measures are helpful to prevent and treat chronic pain after inguinal hernia.

Key words: inguinal hernia, operation, chronic pain, forecast