Abstract: Children often present serious anxiety and distress before surgery, which may be associated with many negative clinical outcomes. As sedative agents may result in adverse reactions and affect postoperative function, nonpharmaceutical interventions have been drawn increasing attention to relieve preoperative anxiety in children. This review summarizes the research progress on the commonly used nonpharmacological interventions such as preoperative education, distraction, parental presence and music therapy and hypnosis, so as to provide new thoughts for possible approaches to reduce preoperative anxiety and promote the development of comfortable medical procedures in children.
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