Abstract
Introduction: Perioperative respiratory adverse events (PRAEs) are the most frequent complications in pediatrics which frequently result in morbidity and mortality. They are accountable for 75% of perioperative critical incidents and 33% of cardiac arrests. The occurrence and severity of PRAEs depends on the natures of surgery, anesthesia & patient’s status.Objective: To assess the incidence and factors associated with PRAEs in general anesthesia among pediatric surgical patients at the University of Gondar and Tibebe-Ghion Comprehensive Hospital and Specialized Hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia, 2020.Methods: After obtaining the ethical approval, a hospital-based prospective cross-sectional follow-up study was conducted among pediatric surgical patients who underwent variety of surgical operations. A total of 225 patients were included. The associations between independent variables and the outcome variables were determined at 95% CI with the Chi-squared test, Fisher–exact test, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression. Hosmer-Lemeshow test was used to assess the goodness of fit. Variables with a p-value < 0.05 were considered significant.Results: The incidence of PRAEs among 210 (93.3% response rate) pediatrics surgical patients was 26.2% (95% CI: 20.5, 30.9). A total of 129 episodes of PRAEs were observed. Most of the adverse events (89 (69.0%)) were occurred postoperatively. Desaturation was found to be the predominant adverse event which was occurred 61 (47.3%) times. Age < 1 year (AOR: 3.6, 95% CI: 1.3, 10.0), ASA ≥ 3 (AOR: 5.2, 95% CI: 1.9, 22.9), upper respiratory tract infections (AOR: 7.6, 95% CI: 1.9, 30.2), presence of secretions in the upper airway (AOR: 4.8, 95% CI: 1.4, 15.9) and airway related procedures (AOR: 6.0, 95% CI: 1.5, 24.1) were significantly associated PRAEs.Conclusions: The incidence of PRAEs among pediatric surgical patients was relatively high (26.2%). Especially, the postoperative phase is the most critical time for the occurrence of PRAEs and desaturation was the predominant adverse event. Age less than a year, presence of upper respiratory tract infections, presence of secretions in the upper airways, ASA ≥ 3 and airway related procedures were associated with PRAEs. Clinicians should carry out effective risk assessment, optimization and adequate preparation for the management of perioperative respiratory adverse events.
Laryngeal Mask Airway Is Associated with an Increased Incidence of Adverse Respiratory Events in Children with Recent Upper Respiratory Tract Infections
