The Association Between Mindfulness and Postoperative Pain: A Prospective Cohort Study of Gynecologic Oncology Patients Undergoing Minimally Invasive Hysterectomy

Study Objective To describe the association between preoperative dispositional mindfulness (the personality trait of being mindful) and postoperative pain in gynecologic oncology patients undergoing minimally invasive hysterectomy. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting University-affiliated teaching hospital. Patients Gynecologic oncology patients (n = 126) planning minimally invasive hysterectomy. Interventions Minimally invasive hysterectomy. Measurements and Main Results Baseline mindfulness was assessed at the preoperative visit using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Postoperative pain and opioid usage were evaluated via chart review and surveys at postoperative visits at 1 to 2 weeks and 4 to 6 weeks. Higher baseline mindfulness was correlated with lower postoperative pain as measured by both the average and highest numeric pain scores during the inpatient stay (r = –.23, p = .020; r = –.21, p = .034). At the initial postoperative visit, pain score was also inversely correlated with preoperative mindfulness score (r = –.26, p = .008). This relationship was not observed at the final postoperative visit (r = –.08, p = .406). Pre-operative mindfulness and opioid usage were also inversely associated, though this relationship did not reach statistical significance (r = −.18, p = .066). Conclusion Mindfulness was previously shown to be a promising intervention for chronic pain treatment. Our study demonstrates that higher preoperative dispositional mindfulness is associated with more favorable postoperative pain outcomes, including lower pain scores but not lower opioid consumption. This relationship provides an opportunity to target the modifiable personality characteristic of mindfulness, to reduce postoperative pain in patients following gynecologic surgery.