title: Postoperative 'minor' complications. Comparison between men and women.
abstract: We compared the incidence of postoperative complications in women (vs. men) in 4173 patients. Overall, women were almost twice as likely to report any postoperative complication (RR = 1.92, p < 0.0005). Specifically, they were 2.6 times more likely to report nausea and vomiting (p < 0.0005), 1.5 times more likely to report score throat (p = 0.0001), 2.3 times more likely to report headache (p < 0.0005) and 2.4 times more likely to report backache (p = 0.0036). Whether these gender differences are due to a reporting bias, or whether in fact women are at greater risk of such complications, remains to be determined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesia and Pain Management, Alfred Hospital, Prahran, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Myles
authors.forename: J O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Moloney
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000758:Anesthesia / Q000379:methods; D001416:Back Pain / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009325:Nausea / Q000453:epidemiology; D010612:Pharyngitis / Q000453:epidemiology; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D014739:Victoria / Q000453:epidemiology; D014839:Vomiting / Q000453:epidemiology