Factors associated with postoperative nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing an ambulatory hand surgery

Background: Patients undergoing ambulatory surgery under general anesthesia experience considerable levels of postoperative nausea and vomiting (N/V) after their discharge. However, those complications have not been thoroughly investigated in hand surgery patients yet. We investigated factors associated with postoperative N/V in patients undergoing an ambulatory hand surgery under general anesthesia and determined whether patients' satisfaction with this setting is associated with postoperative N/V levels.

Methods: We prospectively evaluated 200 consecutive patients who underwent ambulatory hand surgeries under general anesthesia to assess their postoperative N/V visual analogue scale (VAS) levels during the first 24 hours after surgery and their satisfaction with an ambulatory surgery setting. Potential predictors of postoperative N/V were; age, sex, body mass index, smoking behavior, a history of postoperative N/V after previous anesthesia or motion sickness, preoperative anxiety level and the duration time of anesthesia. We conducted multivariate analyses to identify factors associated with postoperative N/V levels. We also conducted multivariate logistic regression analyses to determine whether the N/V levels are associated with the patients' satisfaction with this setting. Here, potential predictors for satisfaction were sex, age, postoperative pain and N/V.

Results: Postoperative N/V were associated with a non-smoking history, a history of motion sickness and a high level of preoperative anxiety. Twenty-two patients (11%) were dissatisfied with the ambulatory setting and this dissatisfaction was independently associated with moderate (VAS 4-7) and high (VAS 8-10) levels of postoperative N/V and with a high level (VAS 8-10) of postoperative pain.

Conclusions: Although most of the patients were satisfied with the ambulatory surgery setting, moderate to high levels of N/V were associated with dissatisfaction of patients with this setting, suggesting a need for better identifying and managing those patients at risk. The information regarding risk factors for N/V could help in preoperative patient consultation regarding an ambulatory hand surgery under general anesthesia.