RESEARCHERS from Barnsley will take part in a £1.6m first-of-its-kind study to investigate new ways of combating children’s anxiety before they have surgery.
They will join others from Sheffield, Liverpool, Manchester and Dundee to investigate whether a premedication known as melatonin can be used to calm nervous children who need a general anaesthetic when having ear, nose and throat surgery.
The research is being funded by the National Institute for Health Research and will be led by a team of researchers from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Sheffield Children’s Hospital and the University of Sheffield.
Previous studies have focused on the experience of all children having ear, nose and throat (ENT) and dental surgeries rather than just ones who need a premedication to reduce anxiety.
The team wants to establish if melatonin has fewer side effects and can be offered as a safer alternative to the current recommended therapy, midazolam.
It will be the largest trial to date investigating the use of melatonin as a potential calmer in nervous children, which has been shown some success in reducing anxiety in adults undergoing general anaesthetic for surgery.
Around one in five to one in seven children need a medication to reduce anxiety ahead of planned surgeries. Dental and ENT operations are the most common reasons for children to have an anaesthetic in the UK.
The study will seek to recruit more than 600 parents/carers from at least ten UK centres.
If melatonin is found to be a better premedication than midazolam, the researchers hope to change NHS policy.
Professor Chris Deery, a paediatric consultant at the School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust, said: “The hospital anaesthetic room can be a worrying place for a child, and reducing preoperative anxiety can have a huge impact on a child’s hospital experience, improving recovery from the anaesthetic, reducing pain after surgery and avoiding the need for unnecessary reappointments and delays to operations.
“Although midazolam is an effective premedication for anxiety, it has many well known side effects, including loss of co-ordination and risks to breathing. Through this study we hope to improve the child’s overall experience by establishing if a safer, alternative premedication can be offered.”
Dr Ayman Eissa, a consultant anaesthetist at Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “As a paediatric consultant in anaesthesia and pain medicine, reducing stress and anxiety in children is my main aim every day. I am looking forward to working as principal investigator with our partners in research and medicine on such an important and challenging research project. While this study is based in Sheffield, it will run in many different centres all over the country, and its outcomes could positively impact children nationwide.”
Both melatonin and midazolam are given to children as oral liquids, and are taken 30 to 40 minutes before surgery.
The Melatonin for Anxiety prior to General Anaesthesia In Children (MAGIC) trial opens for recruitment in early 2019, with findings anticipated to be available in late 2020/early 2021.
