Virtual reality goggles as a strategy to reduce preoperative anxiety

Preoperative anxiety in pediatric patients is frequent and can be associated with unfavorable outcomes. Virtual reality has been proposed as a non-pharmacological intervention to reduce presurgical anxiety.

A prospective, non-randomized comparative pilot study in patients aged 6 to 12 years undergoing outpatient surgery. Thirty-four children were included: exposed to an immersive virtual reality experience during transport to the surgical area (n= 17) and a control group, not exposed (n= 17). Anxiety was assessed using the modified Yale Preoperative Anxiety Scale (m-YPAS) in the holding area. Subsequently, after midazolam administration, cooperation during anesthetic induction was assessed using the Induction Compliance Checklist (ICC).

The m-YPAS score was lower in the virtual reality group compared to the control group, without reaching statistical significance (p= 0.150), with a moderate effect size (d= 0.59). No statistically significant differences were observed in cooperation during anesthetic induction assessed by the ICC scale (p= 0.413). A positive and significant correlation was observed between the m-YPAS and ICC scores (rho= 0.664; p< 0.001).

The use of virtual reality showed a trend toward lower levels of preoperative anxiety in patients undergoing outpatient surgery, with a moderate effect size, although without statistically significant differences. These results support the potential utility of virtual reality as a complementary intervention and justify studies with larger sample sizes and comparative designs with other strategies.