Summary of findings 1. VAS pain scores (0 to 100): PCA versus non‐patient controlled opioid analgesia for postoperative pain.
| VAS pain scores (0 to 100): PCA versus non‐patient controlled opioid analgesia for postoperative pain | ||||||
| Patient or population: patients with postoperative pain Settings: hospital Intervention: patient‐controlled analgesia (PCA) Comparison: conventional opioid analgesia | ||||||
| Outcomes | Illustrative comparative risks* (95% CI) | Relative effect (95% CI) | No of participants (studies) | Quality of the evidence (GRADE) | Comments | |
| Assumed risk | Corresponding risk | |||||
| Non‐patient controlled opioid analgesia | Patient‐controlled analgesia (PCA) | |||||
| Pain scores 0 to 24 h Visual analog scale Scale from: 0 to 100 | The mean pain scores 0 to 24 h ranged across control groups from 16 to 47 | The mean pain scores 0 to 24 h in the intervention groups was 8.82 lower (13.09 to 4.54 lower) | 1516 (23 studies) | ⊕⊕⊕⊝ moderate1 | When sub‐analyzed by type of surgery, considerable heterogeneity exists between and within surgeries | |
| Pain scores 25 to 48 h Visual analog scale Scale from: 0 to 100 | The mean pain scores 25 to 48 h ranged across control groups from 16 to 37 | The mean pain scores 25 to 48 h in the intervention groups was 8.82 lower (14.15 to 3.49 lower) | 609 (13 studies) | ⊕⊕⊝⊝ low1,2 | When sub‐analyzed by type of surgery, considerable heterogeneity exists between and within surgeries | |
| Pain scores 49 to 72 h Visual analog scale Scale from: 0 to 100 | The mean pain scores 49 to 72 h ranged across control groups from 20 to 38 | The mean pain scores 49 to 72 h in the intervention groups was 12.11 lower (26.04 lower to 1.83 higher) | 231 (3 studies) | ⊕⊝⊝⊝ very low1,2,3,4 | Insufficient data for sub‐analysis by type of surgery | |
| Pain scores 0 to 48 h Visual analog scale Scale from: 0 to 100 | The mean pain scores 0 to 48 h ranged across control groups from 21 to 46 | The mean pain scores 0 to 48 h in the intervention groups was 9.74 lower (12.49 to 6.99 lower) | 372 (7 studies) | ⊕⊕⊝⊝ low1,3 | Insufficient data for sub‐analysis by type of surgery | |
| *The basis for the assumed risk (e.g. the median control group risk across studies) is provided in footnotes. The corresponding risk (and its 95% confidence interval) is based on the assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95% CI). CI: confidence interval; h: hour | ||||||
| GRADE Working Group grades of evidence High quality: Further research is very unlikely to change our confidence in the estimate of effect. Moderate quality: Further research is likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and may change the estimate. Low quality: Further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate. Very low quality: We are very uncertain about the estimate. | ||||||
1All studies unblinded. 2Unexplained heterogeneity. 3Total population size < 400. 495% confidence interval includes no effect.