Popis: |
Clonidine is an α2-agonist, licensed in most countries for treatment of hypertension. Other pharmacologic characteristics of α2-agonists are sedation, hypnosis, anxiolysis, sympatholysis, and analgesia [1]. Because of these central nervous effects, clonidine can be used off-label to augment sedation and delirium treatment. To our knowledge there have been no publications evaluating the efficacy and safety of clonidine in ventilated critically ill adults. A survey in German ICUs showed that clonidine was used for sedation in 62% of units [2]. We undertook an enquiry to investigate the off-label use of clonidine in Dutch ICUs. |