ArticleBJA open2025
Barriers and enablers to recruiting participants within paediatric perioperative and anaesthetic settings: lessons learned from a trial of melatonin versus midazolam in the premedication of anxious children (the MAGIC trial).
Article in BJA open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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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
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Trial
- Melatonin versus midazolam in the premedication of anxious children attending for elective surgery under general anaesthesia: the MAGIC non-inferiority RCT.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025Trial
- Does the combination of cartoon stickers and fruit juices reduce premedication anxiety in preschool children?-a randomized controlled trial.Translational pediatrics · 2025Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Poor recruitment is one key reason for premature closure of randomised controlled trials. The Melatonin for Anxiety prior to General Anaesthesia In Children (MAGIC) trial was a multicentre randomised controlled trial of melatonin Methods: A case-based approach was used to identify barriers to recruitment. As part of a qualitative sub-study, semi-structured interviews with local site teams, participants, and caregivers also explored barriers and enablers to recruitment. Results: Issues encountered included time sensitivity within pressured environments; feasibility of paediatric assent; research pharmacy availability; variation in anaesthetist equipoise; multifactorial decision-making issues in premedication selection; and the Associate Principal Investigator scheme being unable to support trials within anaesthetic trainee rotations. Future paediatric perioperative medicine trials could consider funding for research pharmacy outside of working hours; conducting risk assessments for study drugs to be held on theatre admission units; and a tailored design of site feasibility assessments to help address variation in practice. Challenges remain for the feasibility of including anaesthetic trainees within the Associate Principal Investigator scheme structure. Conclusions: There are significant challenges to recruitment for paediatric clinical trials in anaesthesia and perioperative medicine. The MAGIC trial highlighted variations within anaesthetic practice at individual, local, and regional levels. Lessons learned from the MAGIC trial identifies specific barriers to paediatric trial enrolment, offer solutions and discusses ongoing challenges. Clinical trial registration: ISRCTN registry: ISRCTN18296119.
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