Is there an association between fasting before procedural sedation and adverse events in children?

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Why is this study important?

Procedural sedation is often performed in the emergency department (ED) to facilitate various painful procedures such as fracture reductions and laceration repairs. Sedation guidelines recommend 2 hours of preprocedural fasting for clear liquids and 8 hours for fatty solids. Such delays are often not feasible and would result in patient discomfort, prolonged ED length-of-stay (LOS) and overcrowding.[1] This study attempts to determine the association between the duration of fasting before procedural sedation and adverse events in children.

Which, if any, threats to validity are most likely to have an impact on the results and how?

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