Objective: To evaluate the role of psychosocial well-being on perioperative pain and opioid use among patients with cleft lip and palate (CLP) undergoing alveolar bone grafting (ABG).
Design: Retrospective review.
Setting: Tertiary level craniofacial clinic.
Participants: 34 patients with CLP (median age: 11.7 years), including 25 (73.5%) unilateral CLP and 9 (26.5%) bilateral CLP, who underwent ABG from 2015 to 2022.
Interventions: ABG using iliac crest bone graft. Patients were prospectively administered four patient-reported psychosocial instruments from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System.
Main outcome measures: Perioperative opioid use in morphine equivalent dosage/kilogram, patient-reported pain scores, and length of hospital stay after ABG.
Results: Patient-reported anxiety (r = 0.41, p = 0.02) and depressive symptoms (r = 0.35, p = 0.04) correlated to higher perioperative opioid usage. Multivariable regression models including psychosocial scores, total acetaminophen usage, length of surgery, and other simultaneous surgeries were developed for total opioid usage, patient-reported pain, and length of hospital stay. Patient-reported anxiety was independently predictive of higher perioperative opioid use (β=0.36, p = 0.01) and higher pain scores (β=0.39, p = 0.02), but not length of hospital stay.
Conclusions: We identified an association for patient-reported anxiety and perioperative opioid use and pain in a CLP cohort undergoing ABG. Future considerations in preoperative patient and family consultation may be indicated in patients self-reporting higher anxiety in an effort to minimize perioperative opioid usage.
Keywords: anxiety.; cleft lip and palate; depressive symptoms; length of hospital stay; pain; perioperative opioid use; psychosocial functioning.