Objective:

Nebulised dexmedetomidine can be an easy alternative for preoperative sedation in paediatric patients, but data regarding its efficacy are very limited.

Methods:

This prospective, randomised, double-blind study included 66 patients aged between 1 and 8 years. Patients were divided into two groups as D2 and D3. The D2 group received 2 µg kg−1 of nebulised dexmedetomidine, and the D3 group received 3 µg kg−1 of nebulised dexmedetomidine preoperatively. All the patients received general anaesthesia and caudal epidural analgesia with 0.75 mL kg−1 of 0.2% ropivacaine. Parental Separation Anxiety Scale at 30 min after the end of nebulisation, Mask Acceptance Score (MAS) during induction, haemodynamic variables, emergence agitation and duration of caudal analgesia were compared between the groups. Statistical analysis was done using Mann-Whitney U test and chi-square test. A p-value <0.05 was accepted as significant.

Results:

All the parameters were comparable between the D2 and D3 groups; however, significantly more number of younger children was observed in the D3 group. Hence, further analysis was done after division into the lower age (1-3 years) and higher age (4-8 years) groups. In lower age group children, satisfactory parental separation was achieved in 100% of the patients in the D3 group compared to 20% of those in the D2 group (p=0.00). MAS was significantly better in the D3 group in both the lower (p=0.019) and higher (p=0.036) age groups.

Conclusion:

We conclude that nebulised dexmedetomidine in a dose of 3 µg kg−1 provides better parental separation and mask acceptance in younger children.

Keywords: Dexmedetomidine, epidural analgesia, haemodynamic variables, paediatric patients, separation anxiety