Postoperative ‘minor’ complications

Abstract

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). Specifically, 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 more likely to report backache (p = 0.0036). Whether these gender differences are due to a reporting bias, or whether in fact women are at greater risk of such complications, remains to be determined.