Efficacy of ondansetron for the prevention of propofol injection pain: a meta-analysis

AIM This review was performed to investigate the effect of ondansetron on the prevention of propofol injection pain. METHODS PubMed, Cochrane Library, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of ondansetron in preventing the pain on injection of propofol. Then, RevMan 5.2 was adopted to conduct a meta-analysis on propofol injection pain. RESULTS Ten RCTs, totaling 782 patients, were included in this analysis. The meta-analysis showed that: 1) compared with the control group, the ondansetron group was related to a decreasing incidence of propofol injection pain, and it was statistically significant (risk ratio [RR] = 0.41, 95% confidence interval [CI, 0.34, 0.49], P < 0.00001); 2) compared with the incidence of propofol injection pain in the lidocaine group, there was no difference and no statistical significance (RR = 1.28, 95% CI [0.85, 1.93], P = 0.25); 3) no statistically significant differences were found between the ondansetron and magnesium sulfate groups in the incidence of propofol injection pain (RR = 1.20, 95% CI [0.87, 1.66], P = 0.27); and 4) the incidence of ondansetron group igniting moderate pain (RR = 0.37, 95% CI [0.26, 0.52], P < 0.00001) and severe pain (RR = 0.27, 95% CI [0.17, 0.43] P < 0.00001) was less likely to occur during the injection of propofol compared with the control group, but there was no difference between the ondansetron and control groups in the incidence of mild propofol injection pain (RR = 0.83, 95% CI [0.63, 1.10], P = 0.20). CONCLUSION Ondansetron can effectively prevent propofol injection pain, and the effect is similar to that of magnesium sulfate and lidocaine.