Cognitive Pain Related Risk Factors for Cesarean: A Comparison in Private and Public Hospitals

The aim of present research was to compare cognitive variables fear of pain, pain catastrophizing, catastrophic cognition and also childbirth attitude in private and public hospitals. Participants were 300 pregnant women from private hospitals who were matched on the basis of the age, level of education, previous number of deliveries and previous number of cesarean variables. Three questionnaires of fear of pain (FPQ) and catastrophic cognition (CCQ) and childbirth attitude (CAQ) as well as scale of pain catastrophizing (PCS) were administrated. Results showed significance differences for variables "fear of pain", "catastrophic cognition", childbirth attitude " in two groups, while no significant difference were observed for another variables. These results suggest that variables fear of pain and catastrophic cognition are important cognitive factors in the increase rate of cesarean labor in private hospitals. Indeed, fear of pain, catastrophic cognition could increase the risk of unnecessary cesarean in pregnant women.