As little as 30 minutes of exposure to anesthetic and sedative agents may adversely affect the developing brain. Safe, humane management of critically ill infants requires the use of sedative agents, often for prolonged periods. Infants with respiratory diagnoses having non-invasive ventilation without sedation (Group C) or intubation and ventilation with sedation (Group S) were identified by chart review. It is not possible to randomise infants to sedation or no sedation to investigate neurodevelopmental outcomes. This phase of the project aimed to determine the comparability of 2 groups of PICU patients. These findings indicate that these groups could be enrolled as exposed and control subjects in an outcomes study.

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