New research has shown that male patients require a lower dosage of anesthesia than female patients, as shown in an article published in Anesthesia Progress.
The participants in the study, which consisted of 125 dental patients, were given sedation for implant surgery. The results revealed that women needed far more anesthesia (the study used the sedative propofol) to remain adequately sedated for the duration of the implant surgery when compared with their male counterparts.
The authors of the study noted that, on average, the female participants weighed less than the males who took part; this means that the women generally required more propofol per body weight than men to stay at the same level of sedation.
The authors of the study concluded that for adequate moderate sedation during implant surgery, women likely need to receive propofol at a high rate, whilst oral surgeons and dentist anaesthesiologists should be able to give lower doses of anaesthesia to male patients, making the sedation safer and more effective.