The present study comprehensively examined KCNJ6 genetic variations in humans and explored the associations between these variations and outcomes in clinical pain management. To our knowledge, the present study is the first to explore SNPs of the KCNJ6 gene with regard to associations between these SNPs and postoperative analgesic requirements in humans. We found that carriers of the A/A genotype in the A1032G SNP or −1250G/1032A haplotype required rescue analgesics more often and tended to require higher doses of rescue analgesics, especially in female subjects, compared with carriers of other genotypes or haplotypes, respectively, after major open abdominal surgery (Figure 2A and B, Table 6). Although we did not show all of the results of multiple testing for the G-1250A and A1032G SNPs with the Bonferroni correction because this study was explorative, the P value for the main effect of KCNJ6 A1032G on the frequency of rescue analgesic administration was 0.012 after the Bonferroni correction. This suggests that this SNP is likely to affect sensitivity to analgesics, although we must concede that this significance might possibly occur by chance alone.
