Abstract

This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of flurbiprofen axetil (FA) on preemptive analgesia for Chinese surgical patients. Medicinal databases and review articles were screened with prespecified criteria for randomized controlled trials that reported the effects of adverse reactions to FA and other analgesics for preemptive analgesia. The qualities of included studies were critically evaluated. A total of 848 articles were found and 17 articles were finally included. Heterogeneity test: Analysis of visual analog scale (VAS) at 4 h after operation (Qstatistic = 97.37, P < 0.00001, I² = 87%), analysis of VAS at 8 h after operation (Qstatistic = 128.95, P < 0.00001, I² = 90%), analysis of VAS at 12 h after operation (Qstatistic = 20511.23, P = 0.13, I² = 100%), analysis of VAS at 24 h after operation (Qstatistic = 188.15, P < 0.00001, I² = 91%), and safety analysis (Q statistic = 17.61, P = 0.05, I² = 38%). The results of meta-analysis showed that compared with the control group, FA was more effective in VAS at 4 h after operation (mean difference (MD) = -1.23, 95% confidence interval (CI): -1.54 to -0.92), 12 h after operation (MD = -4.42, 95%CI: -10.06 to 1.23), and 24 h after operation (MD = -0.87, 95%CI: -1.24 to -0.51). There were no significances between FA treatment and control group in VAS at 8 h after operation. Moreover, FA was safer than the control group (OR = 0.70, 95%CI: 0.49 to 0.99). Funnel-plot displayed some unsymmetrical figures, indicating that there were publication biases in each analysis. The evidence currently available shows that FA was effective and safe on preemptive analgesia for Chinese surgical patients.

Key words: Flurbiprofen axetil, preemptive analgesia, systemic review, meta-analysis.