Fig. 3.  Postoperative pain scores. Estimates are of treatment differences with 95% CIs, obtained from mixed models. Data for UK (N = 157) and more recent Italian patients (n = 36) are included. Data were initially collected differently in Italy (n = 33 not included). A total of 193 patients are included in the analyses (92 in the GAE group, 101 in the GA group). Variables in each model: mobility, vomit, and lower-limb motor scores; treatment, time, and treatment*time interaction. Upper limb motor score: treatment, time. Pain score: treatment, time, treatment*time interaction, time ². Sedation score: treatment, time, treatment*time interaction, time,²treatment*time²interaction. Treatment*time interaction variables have been added to models where the effect of treatment group differs across the different time points. Missing data are minimal (between four patients [2.1%] and nine patients [4.7%] for each domain at each time point). GA = general anesthesia only; GAE = general anesthesia plus epidural. UK = United Kingdom.