Table 1.

Characteristics of patients undergoing thoracotomy (n = 1555)

	EDA group (n = 838)	Opioid group (n = 717)	p-value
Age (years)	61.1 ± 13.6	61.0 ± 12.2	n.s.
Male gender (%)	57.9	60.4	n.s.
Hospital stay (days)	9.9 ± 4.9	9.6 ± 5.8	n.s.
Pre-existing pain therapy (%)	7.5	13.0	<0.001
Dismission with oral opioid (%)	84.7	79.1	0.004
Opiod dose after dismission (mg)	29.3 ± 15.2	26.9 ± 15.2	0.01
Time to first dejection (days)	3.8 ± 2.2	3.7 ± 1.6	n.s.
EDA duration (days)	4.6 ± 1.5	-

Data are presented as means ± SD.