Effects of Clonidine on withdrawal from long-term dexmedetomidine in the pediatric patient

OBJECTIVE: To compare withdrawal symptoms among pediatric intensive care patients receiving clonidine to those not receiving clonidine while being weaned from long-term dexmedetomidine. METHODS: This retrospective analysis evaluated Withdrawal Assessment Tool-1 (WAT-1) scores and hemodynamic parameters in pediatric patients on dexmedetomidine for 5 days or longer between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2012. The primary objective was to compare withdrawal symptoms based on the number of elevated WAT-1 scores among patients on clonidine to those not on clonidine, while being weaned from long-term dexmedetomidine. The secondary objective was to describe withdrawal symptoms associated with long-term dexmedetomidine use. RESULTS: Nineteen patients (median age, 1.5 years; interquartile range [IQR], 0.67-3.3) received 20 treatment courses of dexmedetomidine for at least 5 days. Clonidine was received by patients during 12 of the treatment courses. The patients in the clonidine group had an average of 0.8 (range, 0-6) elevate d WAT-1 scores 24 hours post wean compared to an average of 3.2 (0-8) elevated WAT-1 scores in the no clonidine group (p = 0.49). There were no significant differences between prewean and postwean systolic or diastolic blood pressures among the 2 groups. The average heart rate during the postwean period was 112 beats per minute (bpm) (range, 88.5-151.5) in the clonidine group compared to 138.4 bpm (range, 117.8-168.3) in the no clonidine group (p = 0.003). In the clonidine group, the mean change in heart rate postwean compared to prewean was an increase of 3.6 bpm (range, −39.6 to 47.5), compared to a mean increase of 29.9 bpm (range, 5.5-74.7) in the no clonidine group (p = 0.042). CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference in WAT-1 scores between groups, with the clonidine group displaying a trend towards fewer elevated WAT-1 scores during the 24 hours post dexmedetomidine wean. Patients who received clonidine had significantly lower heart rates than the no clonidine group.