Comparative Evaluation of Difficult Intubation Predictors in Children Under Two Years of Ages

Tracheal intubation is the most reliable way of securing an airway. Pediatric airway management is one of the significant challenges, especially for non-pediatric anesthesiologists. Early airway evaluation for detecting difficult intubation and preventing catastrophic events is necessary before anesthesia, especially in children.

Therefore, this study was done to compare some valuable adult predictors in children under two years of age.

This prospective descriptive-analytical study was performed on 405 children under two years of age that were referred for elective surgery under general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation in Imam Hossein Hospital, Isfahan. Under sedation in a supine position, we measured items, including age, weight, height, stern omental distance (SMD), mouth opening (MO), neck circumference (NC), acromio-axillo-suprasternal notch index (AASI), and intubation difficulty scale score (IDS). An expert anesthesiologist did laryngoscopy and intubation, and difficult cases were recorded.

Our study showed that the frequency of difficult intubation with IDS > 4 was %16, and with IDS > 5 was %3. The variables, including age, weight, height, and SMD, significantly predicted difficult intubation. The cut-off points for age < 6 months, weight < 5/9 kg, height < 61 cm, and SMD < 5/3 cm were obtained, respectively. Other variables, such as MO, AASI, NC, and sex, were unreliable predictors for difficult intubation.

We found that IDS > 4, age< 6-month, weight < 5/9 kg, and SMD < 5/3 cm are predictors for difficult intubation. It is helpful for the anesthesiologist to measure these predictions before anesthesia is started to find who has difficult intubation.