Postoperative analgesia in children less than 1 year of age: a retrospective analysis.

Postoperative pain is still a major complication causing discomfort, especially for children. This study aimed at evaluating the use of analgesics from surgery completion to postoperative intensive care unit (PACU) discharge as a prophylactic or therapeutic approach for children less than 1 year of age. Based on the Anesthesiology Department files, a retrospective analysis was performed with children less than 1 year of age submitted to different surgical procedures from January/2000 to April/2001, to evaluate postoperative analgesia-related aspects. During the study period, 402 children aged less than 1 year were anesthetized. From those, 194 (48.2%) were not medicated with analgesics and 208 (51.8%) were. As to using or not analgesics, the following was observed: Without analgesics: (1) Age: up to 1 month, 68/99; between 1 and 6 months, 53/126; from 6 months to 1 year, 73/177. (2) Weight: 6.7 +/- 3.1 kg. (3) Gender: male, 106/240; female, 88/162. (4) ASA Physical Status: ASA I, 69/187; ASA II, 56/113; ASA III, 46/79; ASA IV, 23/23. (5) Caudal anesthesia: 3/4. (6) Anesthesia duration: 106 +/- 32 minutes. (7) Referral to intensive care unit (ICU): 93/119. With analgesics: (1) Age: up to 1 month, 31/99; between 1 and 6 months, 73/126; from 6 months to 1 year, 104/177. (2) Weight: 9 +/- 2.3 kg. (3) Gender: male, 134/240; female, 74/162. (4) ASA Physical Status: ASA I, 118/187; ASA II, 57/113; ASA III, 33/79; ASA IV, 0/23. (5) Caudal anesthesia: 1/4. (6) Anesthesia duration: 130 +/- 38 minutes. (7) Referral to ICU: 26/119. Analgesic drugs used were: dipyrone (60.6%), dipyrone + tramadol (25.5%), dipyrone + nalbuphine (5.3%), tramadol (3.8%), nalbuphine (3.8%), meperidine (0.5%) and fentanyl (0.5%). Analgesics prescription for children, from surgery completion to PACU discharge, was not usual, especially in younger and more severely ill children and in shorter surgical procedures. Dipyrone, alone, and the association dipyrone/tramadol were the most frequent drugs used.