Pediatric anesthesia & critical care
Predicting Anxiety in Children Aged 2–6 During Preoperative Anesthesia Consultation—A Prospective Observational Study
Authors' conclusion
Anxiety at induction remains difficult to predict during preoperative consultation. While parents performed slightly better than anesthesiologists, both lack sufficient precision.
Study context
- Population
- Children aged 2–6 years undergoing elective proceduresprediction sets analysed
- Participants
- 92 children
- Exposure
- Parents vs Anesthesiologists
- Outcome
- Accuracy of predicted vs observed anxiety at anesthesia induction (mYPAS-SF), by Spearman's correlation and ROC analysis
- Follow-up
- Anesthesia induction
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Correlation and predictive performance of predicted vs observed anxiety
| Group | Rs | AUC |
|---|---|---|
| Parents | 0.220 (95% CI 0.01-0.41) | 0.643 |
| Anesthesiologists | 0.106 (95% CI −0.11-0.31) | 0.517 |
Rs
Parents0.220 (95% CI 0.01-0.41)
Anesthesiologists0.106 (95% CI −0.11-0.31)
AUC
Parents0.643
Anesthesiologists0.517
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Median
| Outcome | Responded positively to a greeting ('high-five') | Did not respond positively to a greeting | P value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Observed anxiety at anesthesia induction (mYPAS-SF) by response to a greeting ('high-five') during consultationSignificantly lower anxiety with positive response | 34.4 (range as printed 22.9–65.1) | 75.0 (range as printed 45.8–90.6) | P < 0.001 |
Predictors of significant anxiety (Modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale-Short Form (mYPAS-SF) > 30) · anesthesia induction
- Significant anxiety associated with younger age of children and parents, migration background, and inhalational induction
Original publication
Predicting Anxiety in Children Aged 2–6 During Preoperative Anesthesia Consultation—A Prospective Observational Study. Paediatr Anaesth. Published 9 December 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →