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Although the 1995 black box warning on droperidol was issued on the basis of limited data for potential to induce arrhythmias in patients with prolonged QT intervals, the warning is still in effect. To explore the safety of droperidol in pediatric emergency department (ED) patients, investigators retrospectively reviewed charts of 79 patients aged ≤21 (age range, 13–21 years) who received droperidol at an urban pediatric ED in New Jersey during a 32-month period.
Indications for droperidol were agitation in 86% of patients, nausea and vomiting in 9%, headache in 3%, and other pain in 2%. The minimum individual dose was 1 mg, and the maximum was 10 mg; the most frequent dose was 5 mg. Agitated patients received statistically higher doses than…