Pediatric anesthesia & critical care
Efficacy of different routes of acetaminophen administration for postoperative pain in children: a systematic review and network meta-analysis
Authors' conclusion
The available evidence on the effect of the administration route of acetaminophen on postoperative pain in children is very uncertain. The outcomes of postoperative pain control and postoperative vomiting may differ very little between the oral and rectal route.
Study context
- Population
- Children aged 30 days to 17 yr undergoing any surgical procedure
- Participants
- 829 children · 14 RCTs
- Comparison
- Intravenous vs rectal vs oral acetaminophen
- Outcome
- Postoperative pain (validated pain scales)
- Follow-up
- 0–2 hours
Methodological detailsfrequentist network meta-analysis, random-effects model
- Frequentist network meta-analysis
- Random-effects model
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
Postoperative pain
Difference in means (95% CI)
Intravenous vs Rectalvery low certainty
−0.28(−0.62 to 0.06)
Intravenous vs Orallow certainty
−0.60(−1.20 to 0.01)
Oral vs Rectallow certainty; favours oral
−0.88(−1.44 to −0.31)
Safety
| Outcome | RR (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| Nausea and vomitingOral vs Rectal · no evidence of differences | 1.20 (0.81–1.78) | |
| 0.512Relative risk (log scale) |
Original publication
Efficacy of different routes of acetaminophen administration for postoperative pain in children: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Can J Anaesth. Published 15 April 2024. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →