Aim: To study the incidence, characteristics and risk factors of chronic post-Caesarean pain (CPCP) at Yalgado Hospital. Patients and methods: A survey was conducted via telephone of 204 patients at 6, 9 and 12 months after a Caesarean section. The questions focused on the presence of scar pain, its characteristics and the subsequent repercussions on patients’ lives. Enrolment was carried out during the postoperative day 45 consultation; it lasted for two months and clinical, surgical and anaesthetic data was collected retrospectively. The pain follow-up questionnaire was explained during enrolment, then subsequently delivered by the same person. After a descriptive analysis of the population studied was conducted with ÉpiInfo™ version 3.3.1, a comparison of patients with and without CPCP was made in order to highlight any risk factors. Results: Of the 204 patients included, 113 (55.4%) completed the study and 91 patients were lost to follow-up. A total of 72 women (63.7%) reported CPCP at one point or another during their follow-up. The patients lost to follow-up were comparable to those who received follow-up. The frequency of CPCP decreased over time, falling from 63.7% at 6 months (15.2% had moderate to severe pain) to 52.21% at month 9 and 38.9% at month 12 (4.5% with moderate to severe pain). Young age (OR: 1.48, P = 0.002), previous Caesarean (OR: 2.94, P = 0.01), trainee surgeons (OR: 4.15, P = 0.05), a Pfannenstiel incision (OR: 5.96, P = 0.001), and general anaesthesia (OR: 3.21, P = 0.03) are risk factors associated with CPCP, whereas spinal anaesthesia (OR: 0.4, P = 0.009) protected against CPCP. The median pain intensity was 1.7 at month 6, 1.03 at month 9 and 0.85 at month 12. The pain was moderate for 51.38% at month 6, compared with 18.18% at month 12. Pain was intermittent (59.7%) or permanent (16.6%) at month 6, versus 86.3% and 4.5% respectively at month 12. The intensity of the pain decreased over time. The majority of the women (89.2%) self-medicated, and 3.2% had sleep-related difficulties. Conclusion: CPCP is a common experience in our series, and suffers from a lack of medical care.
