Impact of parental presence during induction of anesthesia on anxiety level among pediatric patients and their parents: a randomized clinical trial

Introduction: Anesthesia induction is a stressful event for children and their parents, and may have potentially harmful consequences on the patient’s physiological and mental situation. Stressful anesthesia induction has psychological adverse effects that recur with repeated anesthesia, can lead to increased pediatric discomfort during the recovery period, and may even induce reactionary postoperative behavior. A randomized controlled trial was performed to assess the impact of parental presence during induction of anesthesia (PPIA) on preoperative anxiety of pediatric patients and their parents at three different times, cooperation of child with anesthesiologist at induction of anesthesia, and parental satisfaction. Patients and methods: A total of 96 pediatric patients undergoing elective minor surgery (ASA 1–2) were randomly divided into two groups. Both groups received oral midazolam (0.5 mg/kg) at least 20 minutes before surgery, but in the PPIA group, the parents were also present in the operating room until loss of consciousness of child at anesthesia induction. Anxiety in the patients (as measured by the modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale mYPAS) and parents (as measured by the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory STAI), the Induction Compliance Checklist (ICC), and parental satisfaction (as measured by visual analog scale) were assessed. Results: There was no significant difference in the mean anxiety scores (mYPAS) of participants in the control and PPIA groups at ward T0 and upon arrival to operating room T1 ( P >0.05). However, between the PPIA and control groups, mean mYPAS score was different at the time of induction of anesthesia T2 (35.5±16.6 vs 59.8±22.4; P <0.001). The ICC scores showed that perfect score was significantly deferent in the PPIA and control groups (66.6% vs 6.3%; P <0.01). The STAI scores of the parents in the two groups did not differ in T0, T1, and T2. The mean parental satisfaction score was higher in the PPIA group than in the control group (7.6±7.0 vs 5.8±6.1; P <0.01). Conclusion: PPIA may reduce preoperative state anxiety of pediatric patients and improve quality of anesthesia induction based on ICC scores and higher parental satisfaction, but it does not impact on parental state anxiety. Keywords: anxiety, anesthesia induction, parents, children