A comparative study on analgesic effect of paracetamol and diclofenac in post operative care

Abstract

In post-operative care, a prospective comparative study was carried out for 6 months to assess the analgesic effect of paracetamol and diclofenac within 5 days of surgery. Patients were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The pain assessment was done by using visual analogue scale (VAS). The adverse drug reaction was analyzed using Naranjo adverse drug reaction probability scale. Statistical analysis was performed using Graphpad InStat 3 software. ‘p value’ less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. 140 patients were enrolled in the study which was divided into Group P (Paracetamol) and Group D (Diclofenac). The mean age of female patients in group P were 35.7±.11.40 years and of male patients were 36.3±11.45 years, in group D the mean age were found to be as 38.2±13.85 years and 39.2 ± 14.2 years in female and male patients respectively. Gender distribution of patients showed that the majority of the patients (71%) were female. There was higher VAS score in Group P compared to Group D and difference was statistically significant (p <0.05). It was found that diclofenac was more effective in reducing post operative pain than paracetamol. From the different parameters com- pared and outlined in our study, IV paracetamol and IM diclofenac tends to offer adequate post-operative analgesia. Nonetheless from our study, it was established that IM diclofenac appears to be a superior post-operative analgesic compared to IV paracetamol. IM diclofenac is also safer in the post-operative period, which leads to reduced hospitalization and hence, cost effective.