ReviewJournal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care2022
The efficacy and safety of dexmedetomidine in preventing emergence delirium in paediatric patients following ophthalmic surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.
Review in Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Efficacy of Dexmedetomidine in Preventing Postoperative Delirium in Patients Undergoing Brain Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Neurocritical care · 2026Pooled it
- The effects of alfentanil on emergence agitation in children under general anesthesia: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2025Pooled it
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe leading cause of emergence delirium (ED) in children postoperatively is the exposure to inhalational anaesthetics. ED can occur immediately after waking from anaesthesia, making patients generally uncooperative and agitated. Dexmedetomidine has sedative and analgesic effects and helps to reduce agitation and delirium and improve hemodynamic stability and the recovery of respiratory function; in addition to decreasing pain intensity, it is also well known for helping reduce nausea and vomiting.
objectivesThis updated systematic review meta-analysis investigate and summarise currently available evidence on the use of dexmedetomidine to prevent ED, reduce postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) and decrease the need for rescue analgesia in paediatric patients undergoing ophthalmic surgery.
methodsThe medical databases EMBASE, PubMed and Cochrane Library were searched for randomised controlled trials published between January 2020 and August 2022 that used Dexmedetomidine in paediatric patients undergoing ophthalmic surgery. The protocol was prospectively registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022343622). The review was accomplished according to the 'Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses', and the meta-analysis was conducted by using RevMan5.4. These studies examine the efficacy of dexmedetomidine in preventing ED in children undergo ophthalmic surgery. The Cochrane ROB-1 was used to assess risk of bias (ROB).
resultsEight studies comprised of 629 participants, of which 315 received dexmedetomidine and 314 placebos were examined. PAED score identified ED following surgery. A review and meta-analysis indicated that dexmedetomidine reduces ED incidence (RR = 0.39; 95% CI 0.25-0.62). Similarly, it reduces the use of rescue analgesia (RR = 0.38; 95% CI 0.25-0.57). However, dexmedetomidine did not help prevent PONV since no difference was found between groups (RR = 0.33; 95% CI 0.21-0.54).
conclusionThis review showed that dexmedetomidine helped to reduce ED incidence in paediatric patients after ophthalmic surgery and reduced the need for rescue analgesia compared to placebo or other medications.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.