Hypnotic efficacy of midazolam in pre‐surgical patients: a dose‐finding study.

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The hypnotic effect of midazolam on the sleep of pre‐surgical patients was studied in 99 patients (53 males, 46 females) due to undergo surgery the following day. One tablet of 15 mg midazolam was administered at 21.00 h and a second was given 45 min later if the subject had not fallen asleep, sleep‐onset latency being measured from the time the second tablet was taken. Eighty patients required 1 tablet and 19 required 2 tablets. According to the subjective assessment, patients receiving 1 tablet fell asleep in 22.9 +/‐ 14.9 min and those taking 2 tablets fell asleep in 38.4 +/‐ 25.3 min (difference significant P less than 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the 1‐ and 2‐tablet groups with regard to sleep duration, number of awakenings, overall assessment of the night's sleep, sleep quality and state on awakening. Factors which had a statistically significant influence on the dosage requirement were (a) sex, 30.4% females requiring a second tablet v. 9.4% males; (b) age, the mean age of the 2‐tablet group being 36.5 v. 47 years in the lower dose group; (c) weight, patients with lower body weight requiring the higher dosage, mean 57.5 v. 66 kg; (d) current insomnia or a history of sleeping problems; (e) previous use of hypnotics; (f) degree of insomnia, moderate/severe insomnia needing a higher dosage (42% v. 21%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit: