A statistical point for clarification in “dexmedetomidine versus magnesium sulphate as adjuvants to ropivacaine in ilioinguinal–iliohypogastric nerve block for inguinal hernia repair: A randomised controlled trial”

Dear Editor,

We read with great interest the article by Senapati et al.[1] titled “Dexmedetomidine versus magnesium sulphate as adjuvants to ropivacaine in ilioinguinal–iliohypogastric nerve block for inguinal hernia repair: A randomised controlled trial.” We congratulate the authors on conducting this randomised controlled trial comparing two commonly used adjuvants for postoperative analgesia.

We would like to seek clarification regarding the statistical reporting of age. In the statistical analysis, the authors state that normality of data distribution was assessed using the Shapiro–Wilk test. They further mention age among the non-normally distributed variables, which were presented as median and interquartile range and analysed using the Kruskal–Wallis test. However, in Table 1,[1] age is presented as mean ± standard deviation for all three groups.

Generally, mean and standard deviation are appropriate descriptive measures for approximately normally distributed continuous data, whereas median and interquartile range are preferred for skewed or non-normally distributed data.[2] Therefore, we would appreciate clarification as to whether age was normally or non-normally distributed in this study. If age was non-normally distributed as stated in the statistical analysis, could the authors clarify why it was presented as mean ± standard deviation in Table 1?

We appreciate the authors’ valuable contribution to the literature on postoperative analgesia and thank them for presenting these clinically relevant findings. Clarification of this statistical point would further aid readers in understanding the analysis and interpretation of the baseline characteristics.

Study data availability

No new data were generated or analysed for this letter; all data discussed are available in the published article cited herein.

Disclosure of use of artificial intelligence (AI)-assistive or generative tools

ChatGPT (OpenAI) was used solely for language editing and to improve the clarity and readability of this manuscript; the authors reviewed the final manuscript and take full responsibility for its content.

Author contributions

DRB, SSS: Concepts, design, definition of intellectual content, investigation, manuscript writing

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

Funding Statement

Nil.