POSTOPERATIVE MINOR COMPLICATIONS - COMPARISON BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN

We compared the incidence of postoperative complications in women (vs. men) in 4173 patients. Overall, women were almost twice as likely to report any postoperative complication (RR = 1.92, p < 0.0005). Specifi cally, they were 2.6 times more likely to report nausea and vomiting ( p < 0.0005), 1.5 times more likely to report sore throat (p = 0.0001), 2.3 times more likely to report headache (p < 0.0005) and 2.4 times m ore likely to report backache (p = 0.0036). Whether these gender diffe rences are due to a reporting bias, or whether in fact women are at gr eater risk of such complications, remains to be determined.