Patient-controlled analgesia and urinary retention following lower limb joint replacement: prospective audit and logistic regression analysis

We studied a number of factors that may be associated with urinary retentio n, in particular the method of postoperative analgesia delivery, in 47 men and 69 women undergoing lower limb joint replacements. The following factor s were studied: age, gender, height, weight, previous history of urinary re tention, presence of symptoms suggestive of urinary tract obstruction, type of anaesthetic (general anaesthetic or spinal anaesthetic), type of postop erative analgesia (intramuscular or patient-controlled analgesia with morph ine) and the total dose of morphine given. Urinary retention developed in 1 8.1% of patients. Stepwise logistic regression analysis was used to identif y independent explanators of an increased probability of developing urinary retention. Three factors emerged - male gender, increasing age and the use of patient-controlled analgesia.