A new Penn Nursing study suggests that the specific sedatives used during critical illness in early childhood may have long-term implications for a child's neurocognitive development. Martha A.Q. Curley, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, Professor in the Department of Family and Community Health, and the Ruth M. Colket Endowed Chair in Pediatric Nursing at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, co-led the study with R. Scott Watson, MD, from Seattle Children's Hospital.
The research, published in JAMA Network Open, found that while most children who survived a critical illness requiring sedation had IQ scores within the normal range, those treated with a combination of only opioids and benzodiazepines scored lower on later neurocognitive tests than those whose treatment included the sedative dexmedetomidine.
Assessing long-term impact
Critically ill young children often require days or even weeks of sedation to tolerate life-saving treatments like mechanical ventilation. While these medications are necessary, concerns have persisted about their potential toxicity to the developing brain.
The RESTORE-Cognition Study followed 256 children who were age eight or younger when they were hospitalized for acute respiratory failure. Researchers conducted comprehensive neurocognitive testing—including assessments of IQ, memory, and attention—three to eight years after the children were discharged from the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).
