Overnight observation in former premature infants undergoing inguinal hernia repair

Abstract Background Overnight observation for apneic events is standard practice in former preterm infants. However, the literature supporting current protocols is dated. Therefore, we retrospectively evaluated the post-anesthetic risks in these patients. Methods A retrospective review was conducted on former preterm infants admitted after an inguinal herniorrhaphy between 1/00 and 10/09. The protocol for overnight admission was for patients born before 37 weeks gestation who are less than 60 weeks post-conceptional age (PCA). Results There were 363 patients, of which 23 were