Abstract

Aim: The purpose of the present study was to compare sedative, analgesic and cardiovascular effects and safety profile of clonidine and dexmedetomidine for patients requiring short-term sedation in ICU.
Methods: The present prospective randomized clinical study was carried out among 50 patients of either sex conducted in the department of anesthesia after approval from the Institutional Review Board and informed written consent. Over a period of 6 months, 50 patients were enrolled in the study to receive sedation with either dexmedetomidine (n = 25) or clonidine (n = 25). These included 38 postsurgical, 7 medical and 5 polytrauma patients evenly distributed in each group.
Results: The mean ± SD maintenance infusion dose was 0.47 ± 0.27 µg/kg/h for dexmedetomidine and 1.67 ± 8.6 µg/kg/h for clonidine. Bradycardia occurred in 2 of the 25 patients in Group I and 3 of the 25 patients in Group II (P = 0.84). Hypotension occurred in 7 of the 25 patients in Group I and 4 of the 25 patients in Group II (P = 0.01). About 50% of the hypotensive episodes occurred within 2-4 h in Group I and at 2 h in Group II. No patient experienced hypotension after 14 h in Group I and after 6 h in Group II.
Conclusion: Both clonidine and dexmedetomidine produced effective sedation; however, the hemodynamic stability provided by dexmedetomidine gives it an edge over clonidine for short-term sedation of ICU patients.