Supp. Table 1: Descriptive characteristics of the samples pre- and postmatching, categorized by anesthesia type and case-/control status (additional remifentanil (Remi) or no remifentanil (no Remi)).
Shown are number of observations (corresponding fraction) for categorical and mean (standard deviation) for continuous variables.
General anesthesia
Pre-match Post-match
No Remi Remi No Remi Remi
N=10771 N=3652 N=3318 N=3318
Sex: female 6065 (56.3%) 1399 (38.3%) 1382 (41.7%) 1357 (40.9%) Age [years] 52.4 (17.5) 56.1 (17.0) 55.9 (17.1) 55.9 (17.2) Weight [kg] 75.4 (16.8) 79.8 (17.4) 79.2 (17.3) 79.1 (17.3) Height [cm] 170.9 (9.4) 173.0 (9.3) 172.6 (9.4) 172.7 (9.3) Type of surgery:
Visceral surgery 5233 (48.6%) 1140 (31.2%) 1130 (34.1%) 1136 (34.2%) Gynecological surgery 3378 (31.4%) 558 (15.3%) 601 (18.1%) 558 (16.8%) Urological surgery 2160 (20.1%) 1954 (53.5%) 1587 (47.8%) 1624 (48.9%) Hospital:
Klinikum Großhadern 5981 (55.5%) 3067 (84.0%) 2756 (83.1%) 2733 (82.4%) Klinikum Innenstadt 4790 (44.5%) 585 (16.0%) 562 (16.9%) 585 (17.6%) Unplanned surgery 1235 (11.5%) 292 (8.0%) 301 (9.1%) 290 (8.7%) Duration of surgery [min] 83.6 (61.6) 104.6 (79.1) 97.0 (76.3) 94.6 (72.3) ASA-Status:
1 2340 (21.7%) 581 (15.9%) 565 (17.0%) 542 (16.3%)
2 5085 (47.2%) 1746 (47.8%) 1526 (46.0%) 1559 (47.0%)
3 3249 (30.2%) 1281 (35.1%) 1186 (35.7%) 1177 (35.5%)
4 97 (0.9%) 44 (1.2%) 41 (1.2%) 40 (1.2%)
General + epidural anesthesia
Pre-match Post-match
No Remi Remi No Remi Remi
N=1168 N=829 N=631 N=631
Sex: female 568 (48.6%) 405 (48.9%) 322 (51.0%) 308 (48.8%) Age [years] 60.2 (14.4) 58.2 (14.8) 59.0 (14.7) 59.1 (14.9) Weight [kg] 76.5 (16.5) 76.4 (17.8) 75.4 (16.5) 75.4 (17.2) Height [cm] 171.1 (9.2) 171.2 (9.4) 171.0 (9.5) 171.1 (9.3) Type of surgery:
Visceral surgery 589 (50.4%) 640 (77.2%) 464 (73.5%) 475 (75.3%) Gynecological surgery 184 (15.8%) 112 (13.5%) 94 (14.9%) 79 (12.5%) Urological surgery 395 (33.8%) 77 (9.3%) 73 (11.6%) 77 (12.2%) Hospital:
Klinikum Großhadern 969 (83.0%) 823 (99.3%) 625 (99.0%) 625 (99.0%) Klinikum Innenstadt 199 (17.0%) 6 (0.7%) 6 (1.0%) 6 (1.0%) Unplanned surgery 43 (3.7%) 12 (1.4%) 16 (2.5%) 12 (1.9%) Duration of surgery [min] 162.8 (78.2) 190.4 (96.3) 176.7 (83.4) 177.3 (86.4) ASA-Status:
1 62 (5.3%) 39 (4.7%) 36 (5.7%) 34 (5.4%)
2 519 (44.4%) 276 (33.3%) 230 (36.5%) 224 (35.5%)
3 577 (49.4%) 508 (61.3%) 359 (56.9%) 367 (58.2%)
4 10 (0.9%) 6 (0.7%) 6 (1.0%) 6 (1.0%)
Postoperative Pain
Remifentanil measure
Regression model
Association estimate
SE T-value P-value
NRS1 mean simple -1.41 0.64 -2.18 0.03
NRS1 mean multiple -0.57 0.63 -0.9 0.37
NRS1 max simple 0.55 0.29 1.91 0.06
NRS1 max multiple 0.06 0.28 0.20 0.84
NRSmax mean simple -1.72 0.71 -2.43 0.02
NRSmax mean multiple -0.26 0.68 -0.38 0.71
NRSmax max simple 0.76 0.32 2.42 0.02
NRSmax max multiple 0.20 0.29 0.67 0.50
NRSend mean simple -0.79 0.39 -2.03 0.04
NRSend mean multiple -0.24 0.38 -0.61 0.54
NRSend max simple 0.34 0.17 1.99 0.05
NRSend max multiple 0.04 0.17 0.24 0.81
Supp. Table 2: Estimated association of Remifentanil dose (mean or max) and postoperative pain measure (NRS1, NRSmax, NRSend) for surgeries with general anesthesia. Estimates are based on simple linear regression or multiple regression (adjusted for potential confounders also considered in the propensity score matching) and the matched individuals with remifentanil treatment from PSM.
Postoperative Pain
Remifentanil measure
Regression model
Association estimate
SE T-value P-value
NRS1 mean simple -1.35 1.36 -0.99 0.32
NRS1 mean multiple -0.60 1.50 -0.4 0.69
NRS1 max simple -0.37 0.49 -0.75 0.45
NRS1 max multiple -0.42 0.50 -0.84 0.40
NRSmax mean simple 0.43 1.46 0.30 0.77
NRSmax mean multiple 1.41 1.60 0.88 0.38
NRSmax max simple -0.02 0.52 -0.05 0.96
NRSmax max multiple -0.09 0.53 -0.17 0.87
NRSend mean simple 0.13 0.93 0.14 0.89
NRSend mean multiple 0.75 1.02 0.74 0.46
NRSend max simple -0.15 0.33 -0.45 0.65
NRSend max multiple -0.21 0.34 -0.63 0.53
Supp. Table 3: Estimated association of Remifentanil dose (mean or max) and postoperative pain measure (NRS1, NRSmax, NRSend) for surgeries with combined general/EA. Estimates are based on simple linear regression or multiple logistic regression (adjusted for potential confounders also
considered in propensity score matching) and the matched individuals with remifentanil treatment from PSM.