An article recently published in the Anesthesia Progress has confirmed that female patients need to be more heavily sedated than males.
The research, using new methodology, found females tend to emerge earlier from sedation than males. The team assessed the cohort of 125 dental patients using a tool called the bispectral index (BIS). BIS allowed them to monitor brainwaves rather than just the breathing and reactions of sedated patients.
The patients underwent implant-related surgery and were sedated intravenously using the commonly used general anaesthetic Propofol. Researchers then looked for characteristics that would affect the drug’s infusion rate. Their data showed that women required a far larger amount of Propofol to remain sedated throughout their surgery.
The data also uncovered that even though the women in the study were lighter than the men, they needed more Propofol to remain sedated, prompting the authors to note that health practitioners may need to give women a higher dose of Propofol than they do men, since women need more sedation in proportion to their body weight than do their male counterparts.
However, given the small cohort size and the fact that the elderly do not commonly wake from sedation as quickly as younger people, researchers admitted the data may be skewed.
To read the full paper visit anesthesiaprogress.org
