Screen-delivered Augmented-reality Preparation and Anxiety Before Pediatric Adenotonsillectomy in China

Whether a nonwearable, screen-delivered augmented-reality animation adds measurable benefit to supportive pediatric perioperative care remains uncertain. Preoperative anxiety has been reported in up to 60% of children and can compromise cooperation during anesthesia induction . Higher anxiety has also been associated with adverse postoperative behavior and, after adenoid or tonsillar surgery, with emergence agitation and pain . These consequences make anxiety reduction clinically relevant, particularly during the rapid transition from the waiting area to induction. Nonpharmacological preparation is central to child-centered perioperative care. Recent reviews encompass education, therapeutic play, caregiver presence, distraction, and digital interventions, but they also show substantial clinical and methodological heterogeneity. Meta-analyses suggest that virtual-reality interventions can reduce anxiety and may improve cooperation, although pooled effects vary across devices, comparators, and study quality . The evidence therefore supports promise rather than a single optimal format. Recent trials illustrate both the potential and the contextual dependence of digital preparation. Procedure-specific trials in adenotonsillectomy have reported benefits from visual explanation and virtual-reality cartoons. Virtual-reality education has been associated with lower anxiety and better induction cooperation . An immersive operating-room digital twin also outperformed an otherwise similar two-dimensional video in one randomized trial. Video distraction combined with caregiver presence reduced anxiety during transport and mask introduction , whereas tablet distraction produced anxiety outcomes similar to midazolam in preschool children . Delivery mode alone, however, does not explain the observed effects. Another trial found similarly low anxiety with three-dimensional virtual reality and two-dimensional video when caregivers remained present . A short animation added to ver