title: A survey of postoperative nausea and vomiting.
abstract: A prospective interview-based survey on the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting in 1107 in-patients aged 4-86 years was conducted during a 3-month period. Nausea, emetic episodes and the need for anti-emetic medication were recorded for 24 h postoperatively. In the recovery room, the incidence of nausea and vomiting was 18% and 5%, respectively. Over the whole 24-h period, these figures were 52% and 25%, respectively; severe nausea was experienced by 8%. The highest incidence of emetic sequelae was observed in gynaecological patients; 52% of the 822 patients who received general anaesthesia and 38% of the 285 patients who received regional anaesthesia reported nausea. The most important predictive factors associated with an increased risk for nausea and vomiting were female gender, a previous history of postoperative sickness, a longer duration of surgery, nonsmoking and a history of motion sickness. Based on these five items, a simple score predicting the risk of nausea and vomiting was constructed with a moderately good discriminating power.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology, Oulu University Hospital, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koivuranta
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Läärä
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Snåre
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alahuhta
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000758:Anesthesia / Q000009:adverse effects; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005836:Genitalia, Female / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009325:Nausea / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014839:Vomiting / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology