Consumption of perioperative statin accompanies with enhanced postoperative opioid consumption following total knee arthroplasty executed under spinal anaesthesia, as evident from the findings of a recently published retrospective, observational study in the Journal of Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.

Medical records of patients who underwent elective total knee arthroplasty under spinal anaesthesia were analyzed as inpatients in a tertiary hospital from January 2005 to October 2017. The postoperative day (POD) 3 of patients who took preoperative statins and of patients who did not receive preoperative statins were compared to assess the pain outcomes. 

One thousand eighty-eight propensity-matched participants were selected for the final analysis. The patients who took statins showed a higher rate of total morphine equivalent consumption through POD 3 as compared to the non-statin group, but with comparable NRS pain scores. Although the rise in morphine consumption was minimal, therefore, its clinical significance remains debatable.