Association of Genetic Variants with Postsurgical Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-analyses

ConclusionsDespite much published data, only two alleles have a small association with postsurgical pain. Small sample sizes, potential confounding variables, and inconsistent findings underscore the need to examine larger cohorts with consistent outcome measures.Editor ’s PerspectiveWhat We Already Know about This TopicMultiple genes and alleles likely influence the complex phenomenon of postsurgical pain, potentially contributing to a wide variation in the degree of postsurgical pain and analgesic usePrevious preclinical and clinical studies have proposed a variety of neurotransmitter- and immune-related candidate genes to explain this variabilityWhat This Article Tells Us That Is NewIn this comprehensive systematic review, only a small subset of candidate genes had sufficient data to allow meta-analysis, and most were not significantly associated with postsurgical pain, with many of the previously reported significant associations failing to be replicatedMeta-analysis revealed that µ-opioid receptor variant (OPRM1 A118G [rs1799971]) was modestly associated with increased postsurgical opioid use and pain scores in the acute setting, and a catecholamine metabolism enzyme variant (COMT V158M [rs4680]) was modestly associated with incidence of chronic postsurgical pain
Source: Anesthesiology - Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: research