Abstract
Some evidence exist to suggest that women experience more pain and require more medication than men to achieve a similar state of analgesia. However, this was not studied in morbidly obese patients. The study evaluates the effect of gender on postoperative pain and analgesic consumption in the first 24 h in morbidly obese patients who undergo laparoscopic Roux-En-Y gastric bypass surgery (RYNGPB). One hundred thirty obese adult patients who underwent elective RYNGPB were included in the study. Postoperative pain scores were compared using a numeric rating scale, at intervals (0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 min), and following discharge from the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) at 6, 12, and 24 h. Titrated morphine dose during the 2-h PACU stay and pethidine consumption in the subsequent 24 h were measured. One hundred fourteen patients completed the study (59 females and 55 males). Female patients had higher initial pain scores and higher morphine consumption (10.1 +/- 3.1 mg) than male patients (7.2 +/- 4.5 mg), P = 0.0001. Following PACU discharge, there was no gender difference in pain scores or analgesic consumption. Pethidine consumption in male patients during the first day was 97.8 +/- 35.1 versus 98.1 +/- 61.6 mg among female patients, P = 0.9729. Female patients had higher initial pain score and morphine consumption than men in the immediate postoperative period, but that difference disappeared after discharge from PACU.