We have a set of SQLs that make extensive use of case statements for handling NULLs. I know that coalesce can do the exact same thing. Is one more efficient than the other? This is a generic process that runs a gazillion times a day against many different tables, and has been identifed as a CPU hog.

We are looking at a lot of other options right now. However, in the meantime, since these case statements are used so extensively, we need to know if it would be more efficient to use the coalesce. If so, we can get a lot of bang for our buck by making the change globally (since it is a generic process).