Authors: Toby N Weingarten Juraj Sprung Antolin Flores Ana M Oviedo Baena Darrell R Schroeder David O Warner
Publish Date: 2010/06/19
Volume: 21, Issue: 9, Pages: 1407-1412
Abstract
Postoperative analgesia following bariatric surgery is complicated by the high prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea which is worsened by systemic opioids The primary aim of this study is to identify patient factors associated with greater postoperative opioid use in patients undergoing laparoscopic bariatric surgeryA retrospective chart review of 384 consecutive patients who underwent laparoscopic bariatric surgery from January 2000 to December 2006 was performed Patient characteristics including demographic and socioeconomic variables tobacco or psychotropic medications ie antidepressants use at the time of surgery and previous psychiatric hospitalization were analyzed to determine potential associations with regards to opioid requirements and the occurrence of severe pain 7 on a 0–10 numeric pain scale during the first 48 h postoperatively For comparison all postoperative opioids were converted to oral morphine equivalentsOpioid requirements were higher among younger P 0001 male P = 0019 unmarried patients P = 0034 and patients with previous psychiatric hospitalizations P 0001 Current tobacco users trended to require more opioids P = 0054 Adjusted analysis found that age gender and previous psychiatric hospitalization were independently associated with greater opioid requirements The occurrence of severe pain was common in 42 of patients but it was not associated with any variables measured in this study except for its increased presence among bettereducated patients P = 0021
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