Intranasal nicotine for postoperative pain treatment.

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide), published as a randomized controlled trial.

Who Took Part

The study group was 20 women.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were teenagers, adults and middle-aged adults, women only.

The authors conducted a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial of 20 healthy women (mean age 45 (SD 8) yr) who were to undergo uterine surgery through a low transverse incision.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the women nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide), so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some women received a placebo instead of Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide), giving a reference point.

Numerical analog pain score and morphine utilization and hemodynamic values were measured for 24 h.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Analgesics, Opioid, Blood Pressure, Fentanyl, Gynecologic Surgical Procedures, Morphine, Nicotine and Nicotinic Agonists.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) in 20 women.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Results are reported in around 5 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2004 (Anesthesiology), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) compound page, all human trials.