Prevention and intervention strategies to alleviate preoperative anxiety in children: a critical review.

Preoperative anxiety (anxiety regarding impending surgical experience) in children is a common phenomenon that has been associated with a number of negative behaviors during the surgery experience (e.g., agitation, crying, spontaneous urination, and the need for physical restraint during anesthetic induction).

Effects of midazolam on explicit vs implicit memory in a pediatric surgery setting.

Rationale: Placebo-controlled studies show that midazolam impairs explicit memory in children undergoing surgery (Buffett-Jerrott et al., Psychopharmacology 168:377-386, 2003; Kain et al., Anesthesiology 93:676-684, 2000).

High levels of impulsivity may contraindicate midazolam premedication in children.

Purpose: To investigate the effects of midazolam on emotional reactivity during induction of anesthesia in a pediatric day surgery setting. A secondary purpose was to determine if these effects were influenced by child temperament factors.

Methods: Forty children (age four to six years) scheduled for myringotomy were randomly assigned, in a double blind fashion, to receive either oral midazolam 0.

Effects of benzodiazepines on explicit memory in a paediatric surgery setting.

Rationale: Many laboratory-based studies indicate that benzodiazepines impair explicit memory performance, increase sedation, and impair attention.

Objectives: The present study was designed to extend prior lab-based findings to an applied setting in which the amnestic effects of benzodiazepines may be beneficial for users. In addition, the study extended the previous adult-focused research by examining the cognitive effects of benzodiazepines in children.

Cognitive and sedative effects of benzodiazepine use.

This paper reviews the effects of benzodiazepines (BZs) on the performance of tasks measuring human cognitive abilities. The paper reviews the most common cognitive side effects of BZs: increased sedation, decreased attention, and anterograde amnesia. In particular, this paper focuses on recent findings regarding time course-related effects on BZ-induced deficits in explicit and implicit human memory performance.