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Chloral hydrate. An effective agent for sedation in children with age and weight dependent response

Omar M Hijazi1, Nasser A Haidar, Youssef A Al-Eissa

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, King Fahad National Guard Hospital, PO Box 22490, Riyadh 11426, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. omanhijazi@yahoo.com

Saudi Medical Journal
|June 14, 2005
PubMed

Insights

Chloral hydrate provides safe and effective sedation for pediatric procedures. Response to this agent is dependent on the child's age and weight, with minimal side effects observed.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Anesthesiology
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Sedation facilitates pediatric diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.
  • No established consensus exists for optimal pediatric sedation agents.
  • Current sedation drugs carry inherent risks.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the indications for sedation in children.
  • To evaluate the effectiveness of sedation agents used.
  • To assess the safety profile of sedation drugs at the study center.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective observational study in a Pediatric Day Care Unit.
  • Inclusion of children under 12 years of age.
  • Data collection on demographics, indications, drug dosing, and outcomes.

Main Results:

  • 148 pediatric patients were included, with an average age of 38 months.
  • Adequate sedation achieved in 79% with initial chloral hydrate (CH) dose, 95% after additional CH, and 96% after a second drug.
  • Younger and lighter children responded better to the initial CH dose; side effects were mild.

Conclusions:

  • Chloral hydrate is a safe and effective agent for pediatric sedation.
  • Sedation effectiveness with chloral hydrate demonstrates age and weight dependency.
  • The observed side effects of chloral hydrate were infrequent and mild.
Abstract

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