Prophylactic Dexamethasone Decreases the Incidence of Postoperative Sore Throat after Tracheal Extubation: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background: Postoperative sore throat (POST) is an undesirable complaint from patients undergoing general anesthesia. Dexamethasone, with its potent immunomodulatory effects, is used to reduce inflammation and tissue damage in a variety of clinical settings. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of dexamethasone on the incidence of POST systematically. Methods: Two researchers searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Google scholar, World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, Chinese BioMedical Literature Database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure for randomized controlled trials that compared dexamethasone in patients undergoing general anesthesia and reported the outcome of POST. Results: Five studies with a total of 582 patients receiving dexamethasone or placebo were included. The pooled results revealed that patients receiving dexamethasone had a lower incidence of POST at 1 hour (relative risk [RR]=0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.40-0.98, P<0.05) and 24 hours (RR=0.42, 95% CI 0.30-0.60, P<0.001) after surgery. Conclusions: Prophylactic dexamethasone is effective in decreasing the incidence of POST after surgery relative to placebo. Citation: Bao-Ji Hu, Lu-Long Bo, Jin-Bao Li, Xiao-Ming Deng. Prophylactic dexamethasone decreases the incidence of postoperative sore throat after tracheal extubation: a meta-analysis. J Anesth Perioper Med 2015; 2: 22-8. doi: 10.24015/JAPM.2015.0004 This is an open-access article, published by Evidence Based Communications (EBC). This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format for any lawful purpose. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.