Fig. 2
Baseline and postoperative pain scores in AH, LH, and VH in total (a), after general anesthesia (b) and general and epidural anesthesia combined (c). Preoperative pain scores were comparable between groups. During the first hours after surgery, LH patients showed insignificant lower pain scores, compared to AH and VH (VASdelta −1.57 (−3.41 to 0.29) and VASdelta −1.66 (−3.54 to 0.23), respectively). In general, patients with postoperative epidural analgesics showed significantly lower pain scores in the first 4 h postoperatively, compared to patients without epidural analgesics (VASdelta −2.17 (−3.32 to −1.02)). However, subgroup analysis of LH patients yielded no difference in pain scores between LH patients with postoperative epidural analgesics compared to LH patients without epidural analgesics (VASdelta −0.40 (−1.66 to 2.44)). One day postoperatively, LH patients reported significantly lower pain scores, compared to AH patients (VASdelta −1.50 (−3.06 to −0.01)). AH abdominal hysterectomy, LH laparoscopic hysterectomy, VH vaginal hysterectomy. Differences between groups were calculated using one-way ANOVA for continuous variables. *P < 0.05, significant differences. Error bars represent standard errors of the means