Postoperative analgesic effect of dezocine combined with sufentanil: A propensity score matching study

Postoperative pain can produce a variety of adverse reactions, prolong postoperative recovery time and length of hospital stay and increase medical costs. Postoperative analgesia methods are different; dezocine combined with sufentanil is one such method, but its the efficacy remains uncertain. Therefore, we investigated the clinical efficacy and medical costs of dezocine combined with sufentanil for postoperative analgesia. A retrospective observation and analysis were conducted on all patients admitted to a tertiary hospital in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region from March 1, 2022 to March 3, 2024 for surgery and postoperative analgesia. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the treatment of postoperative pain: treatment group (dezocine combined with sufentanil) and control group (conventional sufentanil analgesia). Propensity score matching was performed for sex, age, weight, and analgesic pump parameters (total drug dose, first drug dose, duration of analgesia, patient-controlled drug dose, and infusion rate). After propensity score matching, 1178 patients were included. There were no significant differences in the baseline characteristics between the 2 groups, and the histogram and jitter plots of the propensity score distribution indicated good matching. There was no significant difference in clinical analgesic efficiency (88.5% vs 86.8%), 24 hours analgesic score (0.95 vs 0.95), 48 hours analgesic score (0.58 vs 0.58) and 72 hours analgesic score (0.37 vs 0.37) between the 2 groups. The overall incidence of adverse events (11.4% vs 14.9%, P = .07) was similar between the 2 groups. However, the subgroup analysis showed that the incidence of nausea and vomiting in the control group was higher than that in the treatment group (8.5% vs 5.6%, P = .02), and the incidence of somnolence in the control group was lower than that in the treatment group (2.0% vs 4.4%, P = .02). There was no significant difference in the incidence of vertigo or other adverse reactions between the groups. In addition, the cost of analgesics in the treatment group was significantly higher than that in the control group (the cost of analgesics: 484.74 ± 177.39 in the treatment group VS 83.35 ± 14.55 in the control group), and the difference between the 2 groups was statistically significant (P < .001). Dezocine combined with sufentanil can be used for postoperative analgesia, but this analgesic method has no obvious advantage over sufentanil alone, In addition, it increases the healthcare burden on patients.