Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 29, 2026

Corticospinal Excitability Modulation During Action Observation
Published on: December 31, 2013
Interindividual Variability in Duration of Action of Rocuronium in Paediatric Patients (DurAct): A Prospective
Katerina Szturzova1, Hana Zelinkova2, Lenka Knoppova1
1Department of Paediatric Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Brno and Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
None:
Background: In adult patients, rocuronium shows interindividual variability related to weight, sex, and age, but paediatric data are limited. This study aimed to evaluate clinical factors influencing the duration of action of rocuronium in children. Methods: Patients aged between 0 and 18 years undergoing planned general anaesthesia were eligible. The primary objective was to compare the duration of clinical action of rocuronium after a single dose, measured until the return of TOF (Train of Four) 1, across three-group age categories. Secondary objectives explored the relationship between TOF recovery and sex, weight, height, initial body temperature, as well as the occurrence of postoperative complications related to general anaesthesia. Results: Among 96 analysed patients, no clinically relevant association was found between the duration of rocuronium action and the studied clinical factors. TOF 1 occurred at 18.1 ± 9.5 min in those aged 1 to 5 years (n = 26), 16.8 ± 14.5 min in those aged 6 to 10 years (n = 33), and 18.2 ± 13.8 min in those aged 10 to 17 years (n = 37), p = 0.626. A post hoc analysis revealed high variability in recovery times across TOF levels, both in the per-protocol population (e.g., TOF 1: 17.7 ± 12.9 min) and in patients who did not receive sugammadex. Conclusions: In paediatric patients, the duration of rocuronium action after a single dose demonstrated substantial interindividual variability, which was not explained by age, sex, weight, height, or body temperature.
Related Concept Videos
Observational Studies
There are three types of observational studies – Prospective, retrospective, and cross-sectional.
Prospective Study
Prospective studies, also known as longitudinal or cohort studies, are carried out by collecting future data from groups sharing similar characteristics. One...
Naturalistic Observations
Fixed Action Patterns
Variability: Analysis
The range is a simple measure of variability, indicating the difference between the highest and...
Random Variables
Uppercase letters such as X or Y denote a random variable. Lowercase letters like x or y denote the value of a random variable. If X is a random variable, then X is written in words, and x is given as a number.
For example, let X = the...
Graphs of Equations in Two Variables

