Sedative medications: a potentially modifiable risk factor for improving neurocognitive outcomes after critical illness in infants and children.

Alana GaHyun Byeon, Marina Mir, Angela Jerath, Marat Slessarev, Saptharishi Lalgudi Ganesan, Nicole K McKinnon

Abstract readReview

In one paragraph

Review in Frontiers in pediatrics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Alana GaHyun ByeonDepartment of Critical Care Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Marina MirDivision of Pediatric Critical Care, McMaster Medical Center, Hamilton, ON, Canada.

Angela JerathSchulich Heart Program, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Marat SlessarevDepartment of Critical Care Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.

Saptharishi Lalgudi GanesanDepartment of Paediatrics & Dept. of Clinical Neurological Sciences, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.

Nicole K McKinnonDepartment of Critical Care Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Critically ill infants and children often need prolonged sedation to support life-saving therapeutic interventions. Although advances in pediatric intensive care (PICU) have substantially improved survival, an increasing body of evidence indicates that many survivors experience persistent neurocognitive and neurobehavioral impairments. These outcomes arise from a complex interplay between pre-morbid status, critical illness related physiological stressors and iatrogenic exposures during periods of brain development. Evidence consistently links benzodiazepines to increased risk of delirium, sleep fragmentation, withdrawal, and adverse cognitive trajectories in pediatric populations. In contrast,

Indexed as

anestheticscritical caredeliriumneurocognitive outcomespediatricssedatives

Identifiers

PMID42548638

DOI10.3389/fped.2026.1874293

PMCPMC13429658

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.