Risk factors for pediatric emergence delirium: a systematic review

Emergence delirium (ED) impacts approximately 25% of pediatric patients undergoing general anesthesia and is associated with with concerning consequences, including injury to patients and health care personnel. Risk prediction models with good usability for pediatric ED are lacking. We aimed to identify published risk factors in this systematic review.

We conducted a systematic literature search of prospective observational studies and clinical trials through eight major databases from inception to 11 January 2023. We included prospective studies published in English that examined the pediatric population (< 18 yr old) undergoing general anesthesia for any surgical or imaging procedure, that measured the risk factor(s) for ED preoperatively/intraoperatively, and that reported the incidence of ED. We excluded studies investigating therapeutic or prophylactic interventions of ED. We assessed the quality of eligible articles according to a modified version of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network quality checklists and rated them as high, acceptable, or low quality. Risk factors discovered were qualitatively evaluated and synthesized with the following levels of evidence: strong evidence, moderate evidence, inconclusive evidence, or lack of evidence.

Thirty-one studies, comprising a total of 6,068 patients, met the inclusion criteria. The median incidence of ED was 32%. Twelve studies were rated as high quality, 15 as acceptable quality, and the remaining four as low quality. Younger age and agitated/excited induction behaviour with strong evidence, followed by sevoflurane with moderate evidence, were identified as risk factors for pediatric ED. Quantitative synthesis was not feasible as there were no more than two studies that explored the same risk factor with the same cut-off.

Although quantitative analyses were not feasible, the current systematic review qualitatively identified three risk factors for pediatric ED with robust evidence.

PROSPERO ( CRD42020192221 ); first submitted 18 June 2020.