ArticleNursing open2026
Anticipated and Actual Pain Intensity in Patients Receiving Intravitreal Injections: A Cross Sectional Study.
Article in Nursing open, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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2 authors.
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Abstract
aimTo compare patients' anticipated pain intensity and actual pain experienced during intravitreal injection.
designThe study used a quantitative, cross-sectional design.
methodsA single-centre study was conducted in a group of 115 patients. Data were collected using medical records and the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS). Pain intensity was rated twice.
resultsThe findings did not support the hypothesis that anticipated pain intensity would be higher than actual pain during intravitreal injection. Anticipated pain intensity on the NRS scale (range 0-10) was 2.58 ± 2.16; actual pain intensity during injection was higher, at 3.12 ± 2.10, at the threshold between mild and moderate pain intensity, with 16.52% of patients reporting moderate pain. A total of 27% of participants experienced less pain than anticipated, whereas 68 of 115 experienced greater pain than anticipated, highlighting the need for improved patient education to align expectations with procedural reality. Higher self-rated knowledge about the procedure was associated with lower anticipated pain (H = 19.935, p = 0.003). Age, gender, and medication type were not significantly associated with either anticipated or actual pain intensity.
conclusionsA substantial proportion of patients will experience greater pain during intravitreal injection than anticipated. Patient education may help reduce treatment-related self-reported pain. However, the present study assessed patients' self-rated knowledge rather than the effects of an educational intervention; therefore, the findings should be interpreted as an association with perceived understanding of the procedure. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND PATIENT CARE: Assessing pain before and after intravitreal injection may help identify patients requiring additional analgesic or psychological support and improve quality of care. Care should be individualized according to previous procedural experience and patients' self-rated knowledge about the procedure.
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