• Achim Schmitz, Fabian Kuhn, Jan Hofmann, Walid Habre, Thomas Erb, Michael Preuss, Pedro D Wendel-Garcia, Markus Weiss, and Alexander R Schmidt.
• Department of Anaesthesia, University Children's Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Children's Research Center, University Children's Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
• Br J Anaesth. 2024 Jan 1; 132 (1): 667566-75.

BackgroundPreoperative fasting reduces the risk of pulmonary aspiration during anaesthesia, and 2-h fasting for clear fluids has commonly been recommended. Based on recent evidence of shorter fasting times being safe, the Swiss Society of Paediatric Anaesthesia began recommending 1-h fasting for clear fluids in 2018. This prospective, observational, multi-institutional cohort study aimed to investigate the incidence of adverse respiratory events after implementing the new national recommendation.MethodsEleven Swiss anaesthesia institutions joined this cohort study and included patients aged 0-15 yr undergoing anaesthesia for elective procedures after implementation of the 1-h fasting instruction. The primary outcome was the perioperative (defined as the time from anaesthesia induction to emergence) incidence of pulmonary aspiration, gastric regurgitation, and vomiting. Data are presented as median (inter-quartile range; minimum-maximum) or count (percentage).ResultsFrom June 2019 to July 2021, 22 766 anaesthetics were recorded with pulmonary aspiration occurring in 25 (0.11%), gastric regurgitation in 34 (0.15%), and vomiting in 85 (0.37%) cases. No major morbidity or mortality was associated with pulmonary aspiration. Subgroup analysis by effective fasting times (<2 h [n=7306] vs ≥2 h [n=14 660]) showed no significant difference for pulmonary aspiration between these two groups (9 [0.12%] vs 16 [0.11%], P=0.678). Median effective fasting time for clear fluids was 157 [104-314; 2-2385] min.ConclusionsImplementing a national recommendation of 1-h clear fluid fasting was not associated with a higher incidence of pulmonary aspiration compared with previously reported data.Copyright © 2023 British Journal of Anaesthesia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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