Predictors of 48-h Pain-Related Re-Presentation Following Emergency Department Discharge: A Multicentre Retrospective Case-Control Study.

Authors

Pramod Chandru, Sandhya Venkatswami, Erika Mendes, Nameer van Oosterom, Marnilar Nang, Khanh Nguyen

Published in

Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA. Volume 38. Issue 5. Pages e70365.

Abstract

This study aimed to identify patient and clinical factors associated with 48-h pain-related re-presentation following ED discharge across four metropolitan emergency departments.
A retrospective matched case-control study across four public EDs in Western Sydney Local Health District between September and December 2024. Adult patients presenting with a primary complaint of pain were eligible. Cases were patients who re-presented within 48 h with a pain-related complaint, matched to up to four controls on hospital site, pain location and age. Binomial and conditional logistic regression were performed to identify independent predictors of re-presentation.
A total of 876 participants were included (179 cases, 697 controls). Findings were consistent across both models. Pain score documentation was most strongly associated with re-presentation (binomial aOR 7.90, 95% CI 5.35-11.66; conditional aOR 25.50, 95% CI 12.90-50.43). Mental health comorbidity was independently associated with increased odds of re-presentation (binomial aOR 2.48, 95% CI 1.40-4.38; conditional aOR 2.43, 95% CI 1.23-4.81). Discharge opioid prescribing was inversely associated with re-presentation after adjustment (binomial aOR 0.53, 95% CI 0.34-0.83; conditional aOR 0.47, 95% CI 0.26-0.83).
Pain score documentation and mental health comorbidity were most strongly associated with re-presentation, though the binary nature of the pain score variable renders this finding hypothesis-generating. Pain location and triage category were not independently associated with re-presentation. The crude opioid association may partly reflect confounding by indication; the inverse adjusted association warrants cautious interpretation and prospective investigation.

PMID:
42853218
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 09 Oct 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.