Postoperative Mortality in Children After 101,885 Anesthetics at a Tertiary Pediatric Hospital

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Mortality is a basic measure for quality and safety in anesthesia. There are few anesthesia-related mortality data available for pediatric practice. Our objective for this study was to determine the incidence of 24-hour and 30-day mortality after anesthesia and to determine the incidence and nature of anesthesia-related mortality in pediatric practice at a large tertiary institution. METHODS: Children ≤ 18 years old who had an anesthetic between January 1, 2003, and August 30, 2008, at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, were included for this study. Data were analyzed by merging a database for every anesthetic performed with an accurate electronic record of mort..