Pain experience and analgesia use reported at day 4 following treatment
Experienced pain | Entire cohort (n=663) | Gestation under 10 weeks (n=642) | Gestation 10 weeks – 11 weeks and 6 days (n=21) | |
Yes | 624 (94.1%) | 603 (93.9%) | 21 (100%) | |
No | 22 (3.3%) | 22 (3.4%) | 0 | |
Unknown | 17 (2.6%) | 17 (2.6%) | 0 | |
Pain score of those answering ‘Yes’ to pain experienced* | Cohort reporting pain score (n=610, 14 did not report pain score) | Gestation under 10 weeks (n=589) | Gestation 10 weeks – 11 weeks and 6 days (n=21) | |
Median | 7 | 7 | 7 | |
Mean | 6.7 | 6.7 | 7.0 | |
SD | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.0 | |
Pain experienced compared with expectation, of those providing a pain score | Cohort responding (n=587, 23 did not respond) | Gestation under 10 weeks (n=568, 21 did not respond) | Gestation 10 weeks – 11 weeks and 6 days (n=19, 2 did not respond) | |
Better than expected | 227 (38.7%) | 217 (38.2%) | 10 (52.6%) | |
Same as expected | 148 (25.2%) | 144 (25.4%) | 4 (21.1%) | |
Worse than expected | 212 (36.1%) | 207 (36.4%) | 5 (26.3%) | |
Used analgesia | Entire cohort (n=663) | Gestation under 10 weeks (n=642) | Gestation 10 weeks – 11 weeks and 6 days (n=21) | |
Yes† | 616 (92.9%) | 596 (92.8%) | 20 (95.2%) | |
No | 30 (4.5%) | 29 (4.5%) | 1 (4.8%) | |
Unknown | 17 (2.6%) | 17 (2.6%) | 0 | |
Paracetamol | Yes | 610 (92.0%) | 593 (92.4%) | 17 (81.0%) |
No | 36 (5.4%) | 32 (5.0%) | 4 (19.0%) | |
Ibuprofen | Yes | 403 (60.9%) | 390 (60.7%) | 13 (61.9%) |
No | 243 (36.7%) | 235 (36.6%) | 8 (38.1%) | |
Dihydrocodeine‡ | Yes | 427 (64.4%) | 413 (64.3%) | 14 (66.7%) |
No | 219 (33.0%) | 212 (33.0%) | 7 (33.3%) |
*Pain score on an 11-point Likert scale from 0 to 10, and comparison of pain experienced with expectations of pain.
†Yes includes use of paracetamol, ibuprofen, dihydrocodeine, or any other pain relief treatment.
‡Patients were given five doses of dihydrocodeine 30 mg in their treatment packs and directed to purchase their own paracetamol and ibuprofen.