• Jung-Bin Park, Pyoyoon Kang, Sang-Hwan Ji, Young-Eun Jang, Ji-Hyun Lee, Jin-Tae Kim, Hee-Soo Kim, and Eun-Hee Kim.
• From the Department of Anaesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea (J-BP, PK, S-HJ, Y-EJ, J-HL, J-TK, H-SK, E-HK).
• Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2024 Sep 1; 41 (9): 641648641-648.

BackgroundThe association between the concentration of atmospheric particulate matter on the day of surgery and the occurrence of intra-operative hypoxaemia in children receiving general anaesthesia is unclear.ObjectiveTo investigate the association between the exposure to particulate matter on the day of surgery and the occurrence of intra-operative hypoxaemia, defined as a pulse oximetry oxygen saturation of less than 90% for more than 1 min, in children.DesignRetrospective study.SettingSingle-centre.ParticipantsChildren aged 18 years or younger who received general anaesthesia between January 2019 and October 2020.InterventionInformation on daily levels of particulate matter with a diameter 10 μm or less and 2.5 μm or less measured within a neighbourhood corresponding to the area defined by the hospital's zip code was obtained from publicly available air-quality data.Main Outcome MeasuresThe primary outcome was intra-operative hypoxaemia, defined as a pulse oximetry oxygen saturation of less than 90% lasting for more than 1 min, manually verified by anaesthesiologists using vital sign registry data extracted at 2 s intervals.ResultsOf the patients finally analysed, 3.85% (489/13 175) experienced intra-operative hypoxaemia. Higher levels of particulate matter 10 μm or less in diameter (≥81 μg m -3 , 17/275, 6.2%) were associated with an increased occurrence of intra-operative hypoxaemia compared with lower particulate matter concentrations [<81 μg m -3 , 472/12 900, 3.7%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.71; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.04 to 2.83; P  = 0.035].ConclusionThe level of particulate matter on the day of surgery pose a risk of intra-operative hypoxaemia in children receiving general anaesthesia. If the concentrations of particulate matter 10 μm or less in diameter on the day of surgery are high, children receiving general anaesthesia should be managed with increased caution.Copyright © 2024 European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.

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