Effects of dezocine on prevention of propofol injection pain: a meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dezocine on the prevention of propofol injection pain. MATERIALS AND METHODS We searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of dezocine in preventing propofol injection pain, from inception to April 2016, in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and CNKI. Next, two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed quality in accordance with the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Finally, RevMan 5.2 software was used to conduct a meta-analysis. RESULTS Seven RCTs totaling 630 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The meta-analysis study showed: 1) compared with the control group (relative risk [RR] =0.32, 95% CI [0.26, 0.39], P<0.00001), the dezocine group showed a decreasing incidence of propofol injection pain; 2) for severity of propofol injection pain, incidences of mild pain (RR =0.55, 95% CI [0.40, 0.75], P=0.0001), moderate pain (RR =0.28, 95% CI [0.18, 0.43], P<0.00001), and severe pain (RR =0.11, 95% CI [0.06, 0.23], P<0.00001) were considerably lower in the dezocine group than in the control group; 3) when comparing the incidence of propofol injection pain in the dezocine group with that of the lidocaine group, no statistically significant differences were found (RR =0.86, 95% CI [0.66, 1.13], P=0.29); and 4) subgroup analysis indicated a significant reduction in the incidence of propofol injection. CONCLUSION Dezocine can both prevent propofol injection pain and mitigate its severity, and its efficacy shows no significant difference from that of lidocaine.