• Ainsley M Sutherland, Rita Katznelson, Hance A Clarke, Gordon Tait, and W Scott Beattie.
• Department of Anesthesia and Pain Management, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network, 3 Eaton North, 200 Elizabeth Street, Toronto, ON, M5G 2C4, Canada, ainsley.sutherland@utoronto.ca.
• Can J Anaesth. 2014 Jan 1;61(1):27-31.

PurposeAntidepressant medications are commonly prescribed for the treatment of depression, anxiety, and chronic pain. Their use may lead to a number of side effects with important implications in the perioperative period. Our aim was to examine the effect of preoperative antidepressant administration on post-surgical hospital length of stay (LOS) in elective non-cardiac surgery patients.DesignHistorical cohort study.MethodsDemographic and preoperative data were collected by chart review for all non-cardiac surgery patients who were assessed in the preoperative consult clinic from April 2008 through February 2009. Patients were grouped according to whether or not they were taking antidepressant medications. Median length of stay was compared between patients who took antidepressants preoperatively and those who did not.ResultsData were collected for 3,692 patients. Two hundred eighty-nine (7.8%) patients were taking antidepressants preoperatively. Use of antidepressants was not associated with an increased hospital LOS. The median LOS was four days both for patients who took antidepressants preoperatively (95% confidence interval [CI] 4 to 4) and for those who did not (95% CI 3 to 5) (P = 0.13).ConclusionsThe preoperative use of antidepressant medications was not associated with increased postoperative hospital LOS following elective non-cardiac surgery.

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