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Published on: January 6, 2011
A retrospective study of intraoperative awareness with methodological implications
George A Mashour1, Luke Y-J Wang, Christopher R Turner
1Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan Medical School, Michigan, USA. gmashour@umich.edu
Anesthesia and Analgesia
|January 20, 2009
Summary
Intraoperative awareness incidence did not differ between general anesthesia and other anesthetic types. Retrospective analysis may lack the resolution to accurately study this rare event.
Area of Science:
- Anesthesiology
- Patient Safety
- Perioperative Medicine
Background:
- Intraoperative awareness during general anesthesia is a growing concern for clinicians and patients.
- Previous studies reported an incidence of 0.15%, but recent data suggest it may be as low as 0.0068%.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the incidence of intraoperative awareness at a single institution.
- To compare awareness rates between general anesthesia and other anesthetic modalities.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective review of adult surgical patients over a 3-year period was conducted.
- Data on intraoperative awareness were collected from postoperative day one evaluations in the perioperative information system.
Main Results:
- The incidence of intraoperative awareness was 0.023% (1/4401) in patients receiving general anesthesia (n=44,006).
- The incidence was 0.03% (1/3269) in patients receiving other anesthetic types (n=22,885).
- The difference in awareness incidence between the groups was not statistically significant (P = 0.54).
Conclusions:
- Retrospective analysis found no significant difference in intraoperative awareness rates between general and non-general anesthesia.
- The low resolution of retrospective databases may hinder accurate study of rare events like intraoperative awareness.