Clinical and surgical characteristics of laparoscopic bariatric surgery patients in the TAP block and no-TAP groups
| Roux-en-Y gastric bypass | Sleeve gastrectomy | |||||
| TAP block | No-TAP | P value*† | TAP Block | No-TAP | P value*† | |
| Sample size, n | 94 | 50 | 172 | 193 | ||
| Sociodemographic characteristics | ||||||
| Mean age (SD) in years | 45.2 (11.3) | 43.7 (11.5) | 0.45 | 44.9 (11.2) | 44.1 (10.7) | 0.45 |
| Female gender n(%) | 79 (84) | 37 (74) | 0.18 | 135 (79) | 160 (83) | 0.29 |
| Race n(%) | ||||||
| White | 60 (64) | 30 (60) | 0.66 | 69 (40) | 70 (36) | 0.41 |
| African American | 33 (35) | 20 (40) | 102 (59) | 123 (64) | ||
| Asian | 1 (1) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 0 (0) | ||
| Ethnicity n (%) | 0.43 | |||||
| Hispanic | 28 (30) | 11 (22) | 28 (16) | 26 (14) | 0.46 | |
| Comorbidities | ||||||
| Current smoker n (%) | 24 (25) | 19 (38) | 0.13 | 41 (24) | 52 (27) | 0.55 |
| Obstructive sleep apnea n (%) | 36 (38) | 11 (22) | 0.06 | 62 (36) | 37 (19) | <0.01 |
| Diabetes n (%) | 28 (30) | 21 (42) | 0.15 | 40 (23) | 46 (24) | 0.90 |
| Preoperative opioid use n (%) | 8 (9) | 5 (10) | 0.77 | 15 (9) | 16 (8) | 0.88 |
| History of chronic pain n (%) | 20 (21) | 17 (34) | 0.11 | 35 (20) | 37 (19) | 0.79 |
| Depression n (%) | 4 (4) | 4 (8) | 0.45 | 9 (3) | 13 (7) | 0.66 |
| Anxiety n (%) | 12 (13) | 9 (18) | 0.45 | 21 (12) | 20 (10) | 0.62 |
| Surgical characteristics | ||||||
| Duration of surgery (SD) in minutes | 113 (23) | 125 (28) | <0.01 | 74 (29) | 83 (36) | <0.01 |
| ASA classification n(%) | ||||||
| II | 37 (39) | 13 (26) | 0.14 | 71 (41) | 65 (34) | 0.32 |
| III | 57 (61) | 37 (74) | 99 (58) | 126 (65) | ||
| IV | 2 (1) | 2 (1) | ||||
| Mean BMI (SD) in kg/m2 | 39.9 (8.4) | 38.5 (9.2) | 0.39 | 39.8 (6.9) | 38.3 (6.8) | 0.04 |
| Intraoperative remifentanil n(%) | 72 (77) | 31 (62) | 0.08 | 109 (63) | 102 (53) | 0.05 |
| Median (IQR) remifentanil dose in µg | 1096 (729–1852) | 2100 (1348–2592) | <0.01 | 665 (437–1079) | 1223 (780–1674) | 0.04 |
*P value compares TAP to no-TAP group.
†Group t-test used to compare means, Wilcoxon ranked sum test used to compare medians and χ² test used to compare proportions.
ASA, American Society of Anesthesiologists; BMI, body mass index; IQR, interquartile range (first to third quartile); TAP, transversus abdominis plane block.