Single dose oral midazolam for minor emergency department procedures in children: a retrospective cohort study

In the pediatric emergency department, patients are commonly treated with a single dose of oral midazolam for minor procedures. We sought to evaluate the effect of this treatment on procedure completion rates.

We conducted a single-center retrospective cohort study of all patients who were treated with pre-procedure oral midazolam between January 2011 and June 2016. The primary outcome was the procedure completion rate.

During the study period, 1,504 patients were treated with oral midazolam as per department protocol; 1,467 received midazolam and 37 declined midazolam. Oral midazolam was used in 14 different types of emergency department procedures. The procedure completion rates in the treatment and non-treatment groups were 1,402/1,467 (95.6%) and 24/37 (64.8%), respectively (difference 30.7%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 17.3%-46.8%); p<0.0001. Treatment group patients had procedure completion rates of 25/33 (75.8%), 165/188 (87.8%%), 1,154/1,187 (97.2%), and 58/59 (98.3%), in the less than 0.3 mg/kg group, 0.3 to less than 0.5 mg/kg group, 0.5 to less than 0.7 mg/kg group, and 0.7 to less than 0.9 mg/kg group, respectively. Multivariate regression did not demonstrate an association between sex, ethnicity, dosage of 0.5 mg/kg or greater, type of procedure, and failure to complete procedure. Severe adverse events were not recorded. A dose of less than 0.3 mg/kg was significantly associated with an increased risk of failure to complete a procedure (adjusted odds ratio 8.34, 95% CI 3.32-20.9; p<0.0001).

The findings suggest that oral midazolam in a single dose of 0.5 mg/kg or greater is associated with successful completion of minor pediatric procedures.