Matching males and females undergoing non mesh primary unilateral inguinal hernia repair: evaluating sex differences in preoperative and acute postoperative pain

The objective was to compare pain and related psychological factors during the preoperative and acute postoperative period between male and female patients, who underwent non mesh primary unilateral inguinal hernia repair.

After ethics approval, informed consent was obtained, and data were collected. Male and female participants were compared by manually matching one-to-one on 10 variables. Descriptive statistics (mean ± standard deviation and frequency) as well as numerical rating scales from 0 to 10 were used. Comparison tests were performed using Chi-square or Fisher's Exact test for categorical data and independent samples t-test or non-parametric equivalent tests for numerical scores. p < 0.05 is reported as statistically significant. To control type I error, Bonferroni correction was used.

72 participants with 36 matched pairs were included. Sex differences were found for operation length (p = .006), side of operation (p = .002), and hernia type (p = .013). Significant differences between the sexes were not found at the preoperative or postoperative time for resilience, pain interference or pain severity related measures, postoperative hernia pain incidence, pain catastrophizing, depression and anxiety symptoms, or return to normal activities.

When controlling for known confounders and using a conservative Type I error rate, pain and related factors between the sexes did not differ significantly.