Objective To explore the total demand, efficacy and adverse reactions of sufentanil with different background dosages within the first 24 h after surgery by single general anesthesia.

Methods A total of 222 patients (aged 25 to 80 years) underwent surgery after general anesthesia were involved in Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University from January 2018 to December 2019. All patients received sufentanil patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) after general anesthesia. According to the different background dosage of analgesia pump, the patients were divided into two groups: low background dosage group (0.5 μg/h; LB Group, n=108) and high background dosage group (2 μg/h; HB group, n=102). The frequency of patient controlled analgesia (PCA) bolus, the number of effective bolus, the total dose of analgesic drugs used, the score of numerical rating scale (NRS), and the adverse reactions related to analgesia were compared between the two groups.

Results The frequency of PCA bolus, the number of effective bolus, the total dose of analgesic drugs, and NRS score in Hb group were significantly lower than those in the LB group (P < 0.05). There was no statistical significance in adverse reactions between the two groups.

Conclusion Among the patients received sufentanil PCIA after general anesthesia, the analgesic effect of higher background dosage (2 μg/h) group are better than that of background dosage (0.5 μg/h) group within the first 24 h after surgery, without additional adverse reactions.