INADEQUATE USE OF NSAIDS AT 24 HOURS POSTSURGERY IN PATIENTS WITH LOWER LIMB FRACTURES ACCORDING TO THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION LADDER SCALE: A DESCRIPTIVE-RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Introduction: The non-steroidal analgesic drugs are the pain management gold standard, and their use is guided by the World Health Organization analgesic ladder according to the pain reported by the patient. Objective: To determine the frequency of inappropriate use of non-steroidal analgesic drugs in pain management after 24 hours of lower limb fracture surgery according to the WHO analgesic scale. Methodology: After obtaining ethics and research registry, we carried a descriptive, retrospective, single-center observational study. We obtained a sample of 96 patients from whom we collected demographic and clinical information on the degree of pain and its management from the clinical file, and we analyzed its congruence with the management indicated by the World Health Organization analgesic ladder. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were performed with IBM SPSS Statistics V21® software. Results: We analyzed 96 files; we obtained an age of 39.94 years ± 13.65. The most frequent procedure was open reduction and internal fixation of tibia and fibula in 60%. The mean number chosen by the patient on the Visual Analogue Scale 24 hours after the surgical procedure was 2.1 ± 2.3 (p < 0.05); 73 of the clinical files reviewed were classified within the first analgesic ladder. The most administered analgesic was Ketorolac. We obtained 56% of inappropriate use of non-steroidal analgesic drugs. Conclusion: We report a higher inadequate use of non-steroidal analgesic drugs than expected at 24 hours post-operative of lower limb fracture according to the World Health Organization analgesic ladder.