Retrospective Evaluation of Pain and Anxiety in Standard Routine Care During Abortion Under Local Anesthesia, in an Abortion Center

Voluntary interruption of pregnancy corresponds to a social demand. The French National Authority for Health recommends that any woman wishing to have a surgical abortion should have the choice between general anesthesia and local anesthesia. The advantages of local anesthesia are its simplicity and safety; the disadvantages are that the state of consciousness during the procedure may be associated with anxiety, and the perception of persistent pain despite the local anesthesia.

The majority of patients express pain during the procedure. Anxiety may be a major predictor of pain during the procedure. Moreover, beyond its possible involvement in pain, anxiety is also a factor of patient discomfort in its own right.

The 10-point verbal numerical scale was used for assessing pain and anxiety. The State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), a 20-item anxiety scale, is also used as a reference to measure anxiety. This scale is carried out for patients undergoing an abortion under local anesthesia in the department.

Other factors could have an impact on the level of pain : age, pregnancy term, parity, history of dysmenorrhea, history of domestic violence or sexual violence.

The investigator team conduct a retrospective analysis in a cohort of patients who underwent an abortion under local anaesthesia in the obstetrics gynecology department of La Pitié Salpêtrière, analyzing their level of pain before, during and after the intervention The secondary objective is to analyze their anxiety level. Age, term of pregnancy, parity, history of dysmenorrhea, history of violence will be analyzed as potential predictive factors of pain.