Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 15, 2026

An Experimental Paradigm for the Prediction of Post-Operative Pain (PPOP)
Published on: January 27, 2010
Postoperative nausea and vomiting are strongly influenced by postoperative opioid use in a dose-related manner
Gregory W Roberts1, Tenna B Bekker, Helle H Carlsen
1*Pharmacy Department and †Department of Anesthesia, Intensive Care, and Pain Medicine, Repatriation General Hospital, Daw Park, Australia; and ‡Royal Danish School of Pharmacy, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Abstract:
We prospectively examined the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in a group of 193 elderly surgical inpatients receiving no postoperative antiemetic prophylaxis. Risk factors for PONV and detailed data on postoperative opioid use were recorded. The overall postoperative vomiting (POV) rate was 23.8%, whereas postoperative nausea (PON) was 51.3%. Opioid use (P = 0.025), and female gender (P = 0.038) were identified as significantly influencing POV in this relatively small population. There was a strong logarithmic dose-response relationship between postoperative opioid dose and POV (r2= 0.98, P < 0.01), as well as PON (r2= 0.98, P = 0.01). Use of patient-controlled analgesia or epidural analgesia was a marker for large-dose opioid use (P < 0.001) and was associated with POV in the 24-h postoperative period of 41% and 31% respectively, compared with 11% for other patients (P < 0.001). Future studies defining risk factors for POV should treat postoperative opioid use as a continuous variable, rather than treat it as a dichotomous variable.
Related Concept Videos
Analgesia and Pain Management
Opioid Analgesics: Morphine and Other Natural Cogeners
Drugs Affecting GI Tract Motility: Opioids as Antidiarrheal Agents
Opioids, widely used antidiarrheal agents, mitigate diarrhea by slowing down...
Opioid Analgesics: Synthetic and Semisynthetic Opioids
Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting: Cannabinoids
Two synthetic agonists of THC,...
Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting: 5-HT3 Receptor Antagonists