Clinical factors affecting the pain on injection of propofol.
BACKGROUND
Pain on propofol injection is a well-known adverse effect. We evaluated the clinical factors that affect the pain on injection of propofol to develop a strategy to prevent or reduce pain.


METHODS
We conducted a prospective, observational study of 207 adult patients (ASA I-II), and the patients were classified according to gender, age, the body mass index (BMI), the IV site and the side of the IV site. During the 10 seconds after propofol injection, pain intensity was measured on an 11-point numerical rating scale (0 = no pain and 10 = worst possible pain). Pain in excess of 3 on the numerical scale was regarded as moderate to severe pain.


RESULTS
THE SUBGROUPS OF GENDER (FEMALE: 55.6% vs. male: 25.0%; P < 0.01) and the IV site (dorsum of hand: 61.2% vs. wrist: 40.0% vs. antecubital fossa: 22.5%; P < 0.01) had significantly different frequencies for the incidence of pain on injection on the univariate and multivariate analyses. For the subgroup of females, the incidence of pain was statistically different according to the age group (20-40 yr: 71.0% vs. 41-60: 54.8% vs. 61-80: 38.5%; P = 0.014).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results showed that the younger age patients, the patients with a peripheral IV site and female patients are more sensitive to pain on the injection of propofol.
Kang
Hye-Joo
HJ
Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, National Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Kwon
Mi-Young
MY
Choi
Byoung-Moon
BM
Koo
Min-Seok
MS
Jang
Young-Jae
YJ
Lee
Myoung-Ae
MA