Pain is a subjective and multidimensional experience that is often inadequately managed in clinical practice. Effective control of postoperative pain is important after anesthesia and surgery. A systematic review was conducted to identify the independent predictive factors for postoperative pain and analgesic consumption. The authors identified 48 eligible studies with 23,037 patients included in the final analysis. Preoperative pain, anxiety, age, and type of surgery were four significant predictors for postoperative pain. Type of surgery, age, and psychological distress were the significant predictors for analgesic consumption. Gender was not found to be a consistent predictor as traditionally believed. Early identification of the predictors in patients at risk of postoperative pain will allow more effective intervention and better management. The coefficient of determination of the predictive models was less than 54%. More vigorous studies with robust statistics and validated designs are needed to investigate this field of interest.

At the conclusion of a total knee arthroplasty with cement, topical application of tranexamic acid directly into the surgical wound reduced postoperative bleeding by 20% to 25%, or 300 to 400 mL, resulting in 16% to 17% higher postoperative hemoglobin levels compared with placebo, with no clinically important increase in complications being identified in the treatment groups.

Purpose Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may lead to lifethreatening problems if it is left undiagnosed. Polysomnography is the ''gold standard'' for OSA diagnosis; however, it is expensive and not widely available. The objective of this systematic review is to identify and evaluate the available questionnaires for screening OSA. Source We carried out a literature search through MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL to identify eligible studies. The methodological validity of each study was assessed using the Cochrane Methods Group's guideline. Principal findings Ten studies (n = 1,484 patients) met the inclusion criteria. The Berlin questionnaire was the most common questionnaire (four studies) followed by the Wisconsin sleep questionnaire (two studies). Four studies were conducted exclusively on ''sleep-disorder patients'', and six studies were conducted on ''patients without history of sleep disorders''. For the first group, pooled sensitivity was 72.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 66.0-78.0%; I 2 = 23.0%) and pooled specificity was 61.0% (95% CI: 55.0-67.0%; I 2 = 43.8%). For the second group, pooled sensitivity was 77.0% (95% CI: 73.0-80.0%; I 2 = 78.1%) and pooled specificity was 53.0% (95% CI: 50-57%; I 2 = 88.8%). The risk of verification bias could not be eliminated in eight studies due to insufficient reporting. Studies on snoring, tiredness, observed apnea, and high blood pressure (STOP) and STOP including body mass index, age, neck circumference, gender (Bang) questionnaires had the highest methodological quality. ConclusionThe existing evidence regarding the accuracy of OSA questionnaires is associated with promising but inconsistent results. This inconsistency could be due to studies with heterogeneous design (population, questionnaire type, validity). STOP and STOP-Bang questionnaires for screening of OSA in the surgical population are suggested due to their higher methodological quality and easyto-use features. RésuméObjectif L'apne´e obstructive du sommeil (AOS) peut provoquer des proble`mes de sante´fatals si elle n'est pas diagnostique´e. La polysomnographie est «l'e´talon or» du diagnostic de l'AOS; cependant, cette me´thode est one´reuse et n'est pas disponible partout. L