Publication:

Oral premedication for pediatric anaesthesia: a comparison between midazolam and clonidine

Background In children any anticipated surgery is associated with profound psychological stress to the patients. To allay this stress and anxiety, wide variety of pharmacological interventions are used.

Methods A prospective observational study was carried out between July’2005 and June’2006 in a tertiary care hospital in Assam. The study included children undergoing surgery under general anaesthesia in age group 2-10 years. Sixty children were divided into two groups, in one group patients received oral midazolam and other group received oral clonidine as pre-medicant.

Results In the midazolam group 23 (76.67%) children had no apprehension after parental separation and at induction (P˂0.001), sedation score at induction was significant higher in midazolam group versus clonidine group (93.33% versus 66.6%, P<0.01), clonidine resulted in a more stable pulse and blood pressure peri-operatively (P<0.05).

Conclusion Oral midazolam has better efficacy in terms of preoperative sedation and oral clonidine had stable hemodynamic profile and better analgesia in the clonidine group.