title: Predicting which child-parent pair will benefit from parental presence during induction of anesthesia: a decision-making approach.
abstract: Using a multiply matched, concurrent cohort analysis, with 568 subjects matched from data obtained by our laboratory over the past 7 yr, we examined whether parental presence during induction of anesthesia (PPIA) reduces children's anxiety depending on the interaction between child and parent's baseline anxiety. Children's and parents' baseline anxiety was assessed preoperatively; children's anxiety was again assessed during induction of anesthesia. We found that anxious children who received PPIA from a calm parent were significantly less anxious during induction of anesthesia as compared with anxious children who did not receive PPIA (P = 0.03). In contrast, calm children who received PPIA from an overly anxious parent were significantly more anxious as compared with calm children who were not accompanied by a parent (P = 0.002). We found no effect of PPIA on children's anxiety during induction of anesthesia when calm parents accompanied calm children into the operating room (P = 0.15) or when overly anxious parents accompanied anxious children (P = 0.49). We conclude that the presence of a calm parent does benefit an anxious child during induction of anesthesia and the presence of an overly anxious parent has no benefit.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Advancement of Perioperative Health, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510, USA. zeev.kain@yale.edu
authors.forename: Zeev N
authors.initials: ZN
authors.lastname: Kain
authors.forename: Alison A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Caldwell-Andrews
authors.forename: Inna
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Maranets
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Linda C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Mayes
mesh_terms: D000758:Anesthesia / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests