Prevalence And Factors Associated With Postoperative Nausea And Vomiting at The University Of Gondar Teaching Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia, 2012: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Postoperative nausea and vomiting is a common complication of anaesthesia and surgery. Despite modern

anaesthetic and surgical techniques, the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting remains high. This common

complication is unpleasant for patients and delays recovery. Despite the large case load at  the University of Gondar Hospital, the magnitude of this problem is not kwon.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of postoperative nausea, and vomiting, and associated factors.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February 27 to April12, 2012 at the University of Gondar Teaching

Hospital. A total of 509 patients who were operated on in this period were included in the study. We used a validated Amharic questionnaire to interview patients 24 hours postoperatively.

Results: The prevalence of postoperative nausea and vomiting was 36.2% within 24 hours after operation. Factors that were associated with postoperative nausea were history of motion sickness (AOR=1.77, CI=1.14-2.75), previous history of

postoperative nausea and vomiting (AOR=4.26, CI=1.70-10.69) and long duration of anaesthesia (AOR=3.49, CI=1.64-7.43). Factors associated with postoperative vomiting were previous postoperative nausea, vomiting (AOR=3.93, CI=1.70-9.07), major operation (AOR=3.07, CI=1.25-7.55), gynaecology operation (AOR=2.58, CI=1.24-5.39) and long duration of

anaesthesia (AOR=3.67, CI=1.73-7.78).

Conclusion and recommendations:  The prevalence of postoperative nausea and vomiting was high at the University of

Gondar teaching hospital compared with most studies conducted in Africa and the rest of the world.  We suggest the use of anti-emetic prophylaxis and the introduction of postoperative nausea and vomiting treatment protocols at the University of Gondar teaching hospital.