Don’t Eat Now: Deciding When to Sedate in the Pediatric Emergency Department

Investigators from multiple institutions in Canada conducted a planned secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study to assess the association of preprocedural fasting on adverse events among children receiving sedation prior to a painful procedure in the ED. Eligible patients were children 0 to 8 years old receiving sedation prior to a painful procedure in 1 of 6 EDs in Canada between July 2010 and February 2015; all sites were members of Pediatric Emergency Research Canada, a national research network. Children were enrolled only if they had data regarding duration of fasting for solids and liquids before sedation. Primary outcomes included clinically apparent pulmonary aspiration, any serious adverse …