Intramuscular Lorazepam for Status Epilepticus in Children With Complex Medical and Physical Disabilities

A protocol was developed to achieve status epilepticus (SE) resolution: step 1, intramuscular (IM) lorazepam; step 2, repeat IM lorazepam; step 3, rectal diazepam.

The primary objective was to identify the number of patients with SE resolution after step 1. Secondary objectives included categorization of mean number of IM doses per episode and patient factors associated with SE resolution.

This was a retrospective study of patients <21 years old with complex medical and physical disabilities admitted over 5 years. For analysis, IM dosing was categorized as high dose (>0.05 mg/kg/dose) and low dose (≤0.05 mg/kg/dose). A generalized linear mixed-model regression was used to assess the relationship with SE resolution at step 1 and patient characteristics.

A total of 44 patients were included (n = 162 episodes). SE resolution was noted in 68.5% of episodes after step 1. Models were stratified by gender to present odds of SE resolution at step 1 versus step 2/3. For women, no covariate was significant. For men, the odds of SE resolution at step 1 were 14.9 times higher in those receiving 2 versus 4 maintenance antiepileptics, adjusting for covariates. Additionally, odds of resolution at step 1 was 3.1 times higher for high-dose versus low-dose lorazepam in males, adjusting for covariates, but was not statistically significant.

SE resolution was noted in 68.5% after step 1. Unadjusted, females had a higher odds of SE resolution at step 1 than males. In males, high-dose lorazepam had higher odds of SE resolution at step 1 than low-dose lorazepam, though not significantly different.