Chronic Pain Prevalence and Exposures during Pregnancy

Pregnant women with chronic pain present a unique clinical challenge for both chronic pain and obstetrical providers, and clinical guidelines do not exist. The present study describes the prevalence and management of chronic pain during pregnancy in a perinatal mood disorder clinic. A retrospective chart review of pregnant women who presented to the Women's Mental Health Program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) for an initial evaluation from July 2013 to June 2016 was conducted to obtain demographic and medical information, including pharmacological exposures. Data are described using the mean and standard deviation for continuous data and frequency for categorical data. Pain complaints and medications are presented as counts and percentages. Differences between women with and without chronic pain were assessed by t-tests for continuous variables and chi-square analysis for categorical variables. Of the 156 pregnant women, chronic pain conditions were reported by 44 (28.2%). The most common chronic pain complaints included neck and/or back pain (34.1%) and headaches (31.8%). Of subjects with chronic pain, 95.5% were taking at least one prescription medication (mean = 2.6 ± 2.1, range of 0–10). Acetaminophen (43.2%) and opioids (43.2%) were the most common. The complexity of managing maternal benefits of treatment with the risks of fetal exposures presents a uniquely challenging clinical scenario for healthcare providers.