Clinical Correlates of Pain and Anxiety in Prenatal Diagnostic Procedures

Abstract

Objective: To study patient perception of pain and anxiety before and after amniocentesis (AC) and transabdominal chorionic villus sampling (CVS) and the clinical correlates of pain and anxiety. Methods: 92 women underwent AC and 78 CVS. Visual analog scale was used to quantify pain and anxiety, immediately before and after the procedure. Factors which could affect pain and anxiety were noted. Results: The pain and anxiety anticipated before the procedures were significantly less than actually perceived. The pre-procedure anxiety did not correlate with post-procedure pain. There was no correlation between anticipated pain or anxiety and age, parity, education, socioeconomic status, and history of procedure in previous pregnancy in both the AC and CVS groups. Post-procedure pain did not correlate with age, parity, education, socioeconomic status, abdominal scar, placental location, number of needle insertion, repeat procedure or abdominal wall thickness in either group. However, on multiple linear regression the overall post-procedure pain was associated with the number of needle insertions. Conclusion: Though pre-procedure pain and anxiety levels are high, most patient experience less pain and anxiety after the procedure.