Intravenous anaesthesia with propofol and alfentanil. The influence of age and weight

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Abstract
Summary: Sixty healthy patients undergoing body surface surgery were anaesthetised with continuous infusions of propofol (200 μ/kg/minute) and alfentanil (0.25 μ/kg/minute). Additional bolus doses of propofol (20 mg) were given if movement occurred. The incidence of patient movement in response to skin incision was significantly less in patients over 45 years of age than in those below 45 years (p < 0.05). Maintenance dosage of propofol sufficient to abolish movement decreased with increasing age (p < 0.001). Systolic blood pressure decreased in most patients over the first 10 minutes of anaesthesia and the magnitude of this decrease increased with age (p < 0.0001). These parameters did not correlate strongly with body weight. Dose requirements of propofol are not the same for patients of all ages and strongly suggest that young and old patients should not he treated as a homogeneous group, either for investigative or clinical purposes.