US: Media exaggerates intraoperative awareness rate

The incidence rate of intraoperative awareness of patients undergoing general anesthetic is lower than is reported by the media, according to an American study.

Using a Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) programme, an incidence as low as 1 in 14,000 patients was found, and closer to 1 in 42,000 for those not considered a high risk.

Awareness is when a person becomes conscious during an operation and can recall what happened. The data were based on 211,842 patients undergoing anaeshesia.

According to the UK's Royal College of Anesthetists the prevalence of intraoperative awareness is continually highlighted in the media despite it being uncommon. The study comes before the UK release of Awake in April.

The tagline for the film is: “Every year, one in 700 people wakes up during surgery. When they planned her husband’s murder, they never thought he’d be the one.”