For kids, an iPad before surgery may be as effective as a sedative

The use of mobile devices by parents to keep their kids occupied is fairly well established, but a new study indicates that those devices' calming effect may even be useful for surgeries.

A new study being published by the World Federation Of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) claims that giving a child an iPad to use before surgery can be as relaxing as a sedative.

"Our study showed that child and parental anxiety before anaesthesia are equally blunted by midazolam or use of the iPad," Dr. Dominique Chassard said in a statement released in the run-up to the release of the group's research findings.

"However, the quality of induction of anaesthesia, as well as parental satisfaction, were judged better in the iPad group. Use of iPads or other tablet devices is a non-pharmacologic tool which can reduce perioperative stress without any sedative effect in paediatric ambulatory surgery."

The findings, which tested over 100 children using a mix of iPads and midazolam (a widely used sedative), was conducted by Chassard and his colleagues at the Hopital Mere Enfant, Hospices Civils de Lyon in France.

The iPad study comes nearly a year the American Academy of Pediatrics reversed its position on mobile devices and their potential negative effects on children.

Of course, using such a small number of research subjects means the study's results aren't necessarily a guarantee that tablets are a pre-surgery cure-all for pediatric anxiety.

Nevertheless, it offers another data point which indicates that giving children tablets to mitigate stressful situations may have more positive effects than not.

The study's findings are set to be presented at this week's World Congress of Anaesthesiologists event being held in Hong Kong.