Anaesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The influence of age upon opioid analgesic use in the patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) environment.
It is often asserted that older patients are more sensitive to opioid analgesics than younger patients but experimental evidence for this assertion remains sparse. Two studies were conducted investigating the relationship between age and opioid analgesic use in the patient-controlled analgesia environment. In study I, the relationship was analysed subsequent to our publication of a study investigating patients' responses to opioid use with patient-controlled analgesia. ⋯ There was a difference in morphine use with the younger patients using significantly more morphine than the older patients (< 60 years). Findings were less clear for patients receiving pethidine but there was an inverse correlation between age and pethidine use as well. Overall, the findings of these two studies supported the common clinical belief that older patients require less opioids than younger patients.