Impact of age on both BIS values and EEG bispectrum during anaesthesia with sevoflurane in children

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential relationship between age, BIS (Aspect™), and the EEG bispectrum during anaesthesia with sevoflurane. BIS and raw EEG were recorded at a steady state of 1 MAC in 100 children, and during a decrease from 2 to 0.5 MAC in a sub-group of 29 children. The bispectrum of the EEG was estimated using MATLAB© software. For analysis, the bispectrum was divided into 36 frequencies of coupling (Pi)—the MatBis. A multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) was used to establish an underlying structure of the pattern of each individual's MatBis at 1 MAC. Clustering of children into homogeneous groups was conducted by a hierarchical ascending classification (HAC). The level of statistical significance was set at 0.05. At 1 MAC, the BIS values for all children ranged from 20 to 74 (median 40). Projection of both age and BIS value recorded at 1 MAC onto the structured model of the MCA showed them to be distributed along the same axis, demonstrating that the different values of BIS obtained in younger or older children are mainly dependent on their MatBis. At 1 MAC, six homogeneous groups of children were obtained through the HAC. Groups 5 (30 months; range 23–49) and 6 (18 months; range 6–180) were the younger children and Group 1 (97 months; range 46–162) the older. Groups 5 and 6 had the highest median values of BIS (54; range 50–59) (55; range 26–74) and Group 1 the lowest values (29; range 22–37). The EEG bispectrum, as well as the BIS appeared to be strongly related to the age of children at 1 MAC sevoflurane.