Author(s)

Salimah Japar¹, Soh Kim Lam¹, Soh Kim Geok², Rosna Abdul Raman¹

¹Nursing Unit, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia.
²Department of Sport Studies, Faculty of Education, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia.

This study was carried out to determine the relationship between ethnicity/culture and analgesic consumption among patients from three main ethnic groups in Malaysia after breast cancer surgery. A retrospective study design was adopted, using medical records of 80 patients. The findings showed that the analgesic most consumed by the patients during the 48 hour post-operative period was morphine equivalents (85%), followed by non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (60%) and paracetamol (38%). No relationship was found between ethnicity/culture and the type or amount of analgesic consumption. 

Analgesic Consumption, Breast Cancer Surgery, Culture, Ethnicity, Malaysia

Japar, S. , Lam, S. , Geok, S. and Raman, R. (2015) The Influence of Culture on Analgesic Consumption: A Retrospective Study among Malaysian Patients after Breast Cancer Surgery. Journal of Biosciences and Medicines, 3, 12-17. doi: 10.4236/jbm.2015.33003.