Open AccessMean analgesic consumption is inappropriate for testing analgesic efficacy in post-operative pain: analysis and alternative suggestion
Author(s) -
R Andrew Moore,
R. J. Ni Mhuircheartaigh,
Sheena Derry,
Henry McQuay
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
european journal of anaesthesiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.445
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1365-2346
pISSN - 0265-0215
DOI - 10.1097/eja.0b013e328343c569
Subject(s) - medicine , analgesic , fentanyl , anesthesia , morphine , placebo , surgery , pathology , alternative medicine
Post-operative analgesic consumption is often used as a surrogate measure for pain; analyses of mean data assume a Gaussian distribution and use parametric statistics to assess statistical differences, often in small samples. We used a large individual patient dataset to examine the distribution of analgesic consumption, the validity of such analyses and alternative dichotomous outcomes.