Abstract
Female groin hernias are understudied. This study aims to see whether females are more likely to experience post-operative pain than males following groin hernia repair.
Participants with groin hernia repaired aged 18+ were recruited from a private clinic's surgical database of two different surgeons. Data collected included pre and post operative pain questionnaires, demographics, and operative details. Data collected included age at operation, preoperative pain score, types of groin hernia (femoral, inguinal), recurrence of hernia, bilateral vs unilateral, conversion vs laparoscopic vs open hernia repair, and mesh used.
144 females and 1850 males completed post-operative questionnaires. Females had an OR of 1.79 (95% CI 1.04-3.07, p = 0.04) for experiencing pain at follow up. Protective factors were age (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.97-0.98, p < 0.001), and laparoscopic (OR 0.68, 95% CI 0.51-0.91, p = 0.01) while risk factors were recurrent (OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.04-2.47, p = 0.03), bilateral (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.04-1.74, p = 0.02), and having a complication at less than 30 days (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.28-2.19, p < 0.001). Of the 378 who had enough data to calculated whether pain had improved or not, there was an insignificant trend towards females having less chance of improvement (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.37-1.74, p = 0.57) at follow up after accounting for post-operative complications at less than 30 days post operatively (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.30-1.01, p = 0.06).
Females experience significantly more pain post hernia repair surgery in comparison to males.