Abstract

Childhood obesity is associated with a range of adverse metabolic, cardiovascular, respiratory and psychological problems. Recent studies showed a higher prevalence of increased BMI and complications in obese children undergoing surgeries compared with their lean peers. Aim of the study Central obesity (indicated by neck circumference) is associated with airway-related acute perioperative complications. Measuring neck circumference could be a useful screening tool for perioperative respiratory complications. Patient and method A prospective study carried out on 68 patients aged 6 to 12 years undergoing noncardiac surgeries that require general anesthesia and endotracheal intubation. Clinical and anthropometric data were collected by anesthetists from all patients. Patients were classified according to their BMI percentile (underweight, healthy, overweight and obese). Respiratory events that are included were: Mallampati score, difficult mask ventilation grade, direct laryngoscopy, no. of attempts and desaturation. Results By using the paired t-test and correlation, there was significant difference between neck circumference and Mallampati score where the p-value was 0.044 and there were no significant differences between neck circumference and the other parameters. Conclusion Neck circumference in not a useful clinical screening tool for the occurrence of perioperative adverse respiratory events in pediatric age group. It may give us an idea about Mallampati score in uncooperative patients.

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