Newswise — NEW ORLEANS – Oct. 14, 2014 – Ethnicity may play a role in the occurrence of breathing problems during and after surgery, suggests preliminary results from a new study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2014 annual meeting.
“It was our clinical impression that we were seeing respiratory complications more frequently in African-American children during and after surgery, such as airway spasm or chest tightness,” said Sarah Tariq, M.D., study author and physician anesthesiologist at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. “We wanted to see if there was, in fact, a higher incidence of perioperative respiratory adverse events (PRAE) among the African-American pediatric population.”
Researchers conducted a retrospective study which involved a chart review of 847 relatively healthy children ages 2-9 undergoing outpatient surgeries. Data analysis revealed 75 patients had an adverse respiratory event such as laryngospasm or bronchospasm or airway obstruction. Of the 75 patients, African American children had twice the incidence of breathing problems at 14 percent, compared to 7 percent of Caucasian children. Removal of tonsils & adenoids and other ear, nose and throat (ENT) procedures were most commonly associated with PRAE, followed by endoscopic (e.g., gastrointestinal endoscopy) and orthodontic procedures.
While additional research with a larger sample size needs to be conducted, the preliminary data suggest that ethnicity could be a risk factor for PRAE, said Madiha Syed, M.B.B.S., resident physician at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and co-investigator of the study.
“Identification of high risk patients can help us better prepare these patients for surgery. Such measures can potentially decrease complications during surgery and improve patient safety and outcomes,” said Dr. Tariq.
This is an ongoing study and Dr. Tariq and her team hope to conduct a larger study to validate these results.
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANESTHESIOLOGISTS®Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA®) is an educational, research and scientific society with more than 52,000 members organized to raise and maintain the standards of the medical practice of anesthesiology. ASA is committed to ensuring that physician anesthesiologists evaluate and supervise the medical care of patients before, during, and after surgery to provide the highest quality and safest care that every patient deserves.
For more information on the field of anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists online at asahq.org. To learn more about the role physician anesthesiologists play in ensuring patient safety, visit asahq.org/WhenSecondsCount. Join the ANESTHESIOLOGY™ 2014 social conversation today. Like ASA on Facebook, follow ASALifeline on Twitter and use the hashtag #ANES2014.
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