3.3. Study characteristics and network geometry
In total, 960 subjects were randomly assigned to pharmacological
intervention and 751 to placebo. The included RCTs were published from
2002 to 2020 and involved orthopedic(n=2), urinary(n=4), abdominal
(n=10), gynecologic (n=9), thyroid surgery (n=5), thoracic(n=1) and
ear-nose-throat surgery (n=2). The basic characteristics of enrolled
studies are described in Table 1 .
The network geometry plot (Figure 2 ) shows the network of
eligible comparisons for
postoperative pain intensity at
rest at 24h (A) and the incidence of PONV (B). Of the 33 enrolled
studies, 28 studies involving 20
treatments reported the postoperative pain intensity at rest at 24h
after surgery, and 27 studies involving 17 treatments reported the
incidence of PONV. All treatments had at least one placebo-controlled
trial. Each treatment was represented by a node and linked by an edge
when a direct comparison was performed. More sample sizes, bigger node.
Similarly, more studies involved, thicker edge.