Table 1.

Clinical characteristics of included studies.

Author	Year	References	Type of Surgery	Design	Drug	Dose of Nalbuphine	Control Group Drug	Dose of Control	Timing of Administration	Type of Anesthesia	Dose of Anesthesia	Mean Age (Control)a	Mean Age (Nalbuphine)a	Mean BMI (Control)a	Mean BMI (Nalbuphine)a	na
Kim	2008	18	Strabismus Surgery	RCT	Nalbuphine	0.1 mg.kg−1	Normal Saline	0.1 mg.kg−1	End of Surgery	Sevoflurane	6 L.min−1	4.7 ± 1.3	4.8 ± 1.2	‒	‒	90
Chang	2008	19	Strabismus Surgery	RCT	Nalbuphine	0.2 mg.kg−1	Normal Saline	0.2 mg.kg−1	During Surgery except for high agitation score then nalbuphine is administered additionally after surgery	Desflurane	4%−6% with N2O:O2 is 2:1	7.3 ± 2.3	7.0 ± 3.3	‒	‒	41
Mohammed	2017	16	Tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy	RCT	Nalbuphine	0.1 mg.kg−1	Midazolam	0.03 mg.kg−1	5 min before the end of surgery	Sevoflurane	6 L.min−1 with increments of 1% at each breath up to 8%.	5.7±1.3	5.6±1.3	‒	‒	90
Vavrina	2017	17	Adenotonsillectomy	Observational Study	Nalbuphine	0.17 ± 0.03 mg.kg−1	Alfentanil	0.012 ± 0.004 mg.kg−1	During surgery	Propofol or 40% Oxygen, 60% Nitrous Oxide and Sevoflurane	‒	5.7 ± 3.1	5.1 ± 1.7	‒	‒	114
Zhao	2017	14	Dental Surgery	RCT	Nalbuphine	0.1 mg.kg−1	Normal Saline	0.1 mg.kg−1	Before the end of surgery	Sevoflurane	8% in 100% oxygen	4.4 ± 1.2	4.5 ± 1.3	‒	‒	84
El-Din	2018	15	Adenotonsillectomy	RCT	Nalbuphine	0.1 mg.kg−1	Midazolam	0.03 mg.kg−1	5 min before the end of surgery	Sevoflurane	6 L.min−1 with increments of 1% at each breath up to 8%	5.7 ± 1.3	5.6 ± 1.3	‒	‒	90
Elagamy	2020	30	Adenotonsillectomy	RCT	Nalbuphine	0.1 mg.kg−1	Dexmedetomidine	0.5 µg.kg−1	During the surgery	Sevoflurane	8% in 100% of oxygen	4.5 ± 0.8	4.7 ± 1	-	-	160
He	2023	14	Adenotonsillectomy	RCT	Nalbuphine	0.1 mg.kg−1	Normal Saline	0.1 mg.kg−1	During surgery	Sevoflurane	6 L.min−1	5.1 ± 1.8	5.0 ± 1.9	15.7 ± 2.5	15.5 ± 2.1	797

^aValues are in Mean ± Standard Deviation. RCT, Randomized Controlled Trial; BMI, Body Mass Index; n, Total Sample Size.