Abstract: Objective To investigate the characteristics of postoperative complications and related risk factors in neurosurgery patients. Methods A retrospective study was carried out in neurosurgery patients during anesthesia recovery period from March, 2009 to November, 2013. The recorded complications included respiratory and circulatory system complications, pain, shivering, nausea and vomiting, agitation and delaying recovery. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to screen the risk factors for these complications. Results Data of 13,495 patients were available for analysis. The general incidence was 48.8%. Post-operative complications included post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) (14.5%), agitation (13.5%), hypertension (13.4%), arrhythmia (9.3%), shivering (8.9%), pain (5.9%), hypoxemia (2.5%), delayed recovery (1.9%), airway obstruction (1.7%) and hypotension (0.3%). Regression analysis showed that the risk factors for hypoxemia included male, <59 years old and infratentorial tumor (P<0.05); the risk factors for PONV included male, supratentorial tumor, infratentorial tumor, cerebrovascular disease, inhalation anesthesia, the use of muscle relaxants antagonism and tramadol (P<0.05); and the risk factors for postoperative restlessness included male, infratentorial tumor and cerebrovascular disease, inhalation anesthesia, the use of muscle relaxants antagonism and no use of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump (P<0.05). Conclusion Patients with different neurological diseases showed different post-operative complications and exhibited different risk factors for these complications. Anesthesiologists should closely monitor patients receiving various neurosurgery and provide timely treatment.

Key words: neurosurgery, complication, anesthesia recovery period, risk factors, retrospective study