Effect of Sex Difference on the Analgesic Response of Nalbuphine after Major Orthopedic Surgery in One Egyptian Intensive Care

Abstract

Abstract Background Several reviews on the topic of gender differences in pain mechanisms, control and treatments have been published in the last two decades. The increasing literature refers to a broad range of topics, including preclinical studies on mechanisms underlying male and female diffelences in nociception and its control, clinical lesearch on gender differences in pain perception and modulation, epidemiological investigations of sex differences in pain prevalence and a growing number of studies examining sex differences in responses to pain therapies. Aim of the Work To compare Egyptian male and female response to Nalbuphine as analgesia after major orthopedic surgery in the intensive care unit, as regards dose effectiveness and adverse effects, in the first postoperative 24 hours. Patients and Method: This comparative prospective analytical study was performed at Ain Shams University Hospitals. The study enrolled 100 Egyptian postoperative patients admitted to ICU after major orthopedic surgery; including 50 females and 50 males. Results The mean age of the participants was 48.81 ± 8.99 years. Regarding the primary outcome, the current study showed that males required a higher dose of nalbuphine than females with a pvalue < 0.001. There was no statistically significant in the VAS score of pain intensity between males and females at all times. Conclusion The results of this study suggest that postoperative nalbuphine requirements differ between Egyptian female and male patients undergoing major orthopedic surgeries. Males require a higher dose than females. But there was no statistically significant difference between females and males regarding postoperative analgesia complications. Nevertheless, funher studies on the ICIationship between the analgesic effect and other factors like comorbid mental disorders are required.