Drug Utilization for Pain Management during Perioperative Period of Total Knee Arthroplasty in China: A Retrospective Research Using Real-World Data

Background and Objective: Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is one of the most painful procedures and perioperative pain usually requires the use of many analgesics to relieve it. The appropriate use of analgesics to relieve patient pain is an important issue of TKA. To characterize the drug utilization for pain management during perioperative period of TKA in China using real-world data of electronic medical records. Materials and Methods: This research used the data of all inpatients who received TKA at 145 hospitals covered 31 provinces in China from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2018. The exclusion criteria included pregnancy and cancer diagnosis. In the analysis of drug utilization mode (DUM), medicines were classified into 5 groups: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), opioids, non-opioid central analgesics, acetaminophen and others. Results: Among the 2017 patients included in this study, there were 1537 (76.20%) female and 480 (23.80%) male, aged 65.77 ± 7.73 years. Regarding the surgery characteristics, 1658 (82.20%) were unilateral; 1220 (60.49%) was graded Level 4; 1312 (65.05%) used local anesthesia as the main anesthesia method, and 1450 (71.89%) lasted for more than 2 h. The most common DUM was “NSAIDs + opioids” (55.92%), followed by “NSAIDs only” (17.85%), and “NSAIDs + Opioids + Non-opioid central analgesics” (17.15%). The results of the Chi-square test showed that differences in DUM were associated with surgery types, surgery levels, surgery duration, and types of anesthesia used. Up to 81.14% of the total drug expenses for pain management was spent on NSAIDs. Due to the limitation of database, this study could not subdivide operation stages, anesthesia methods, dosage forms of drugs. Conclusion: In China, the use of analgesics in perioperative period of TKA was diversified and influenced by a number of surgery characteristics. The rational use of analgesics should be considered in combination with surgery type, surgery level, surgery duration and anesthesia method.