Comparison of intelligence, weight and height in children after general anesthesia with and without perioperative desaturation in non-cardiac surgery: a historical and concurrent follow-up study.

Purpose: To determine whether perioperative desaturation (PD) in preschool children undergoing non-cardiac surgery is associated with subsequent impairment of intelligence or subsequent change in age-specific weight and height percentile.

Method: A historical-concurrent follow-up study was conducted in children aged ≤ 60 months who underwent general anesthesia (GA) for non-cardiac surgery between January 2008 and December 2011 at Songklanagarind Hospital. Children who developed PD (PD group) and children who did not develop perioperative respiratory events (no-PRE group) were matched on sex, age, year of having index GA, type of surgery and choice of anesthesia.

Excess costs and length of hospital stay attributable to perioperative respiratory events in children.

Background: Knowledge of the excess hospital costs and prolonged length of stay attributable to perioperative respiratory event (PRE) in pediatric anesthesia is useful for hospital planning. In this study, we compared costs (excess hospital costs and indirect costs) and length of hospital stay between children who had PRE and did not have PRE for noncardiac surgery at a tertiary care hospital in southern Thailand.

Methods: A prospective matched cohort study was conducted in children aged <15 years who underwent general anesthesia between November 2012 and December 2013 at Songklanagarind Hospital.