Oral clonazepam versus lorazepam in the treatment of methamphetamine-poisoned children: a pilot clinical trial

• Published in: BMC pediatrics Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 543 - 8
• Main Authors: Farnaghi, Fariba, Rahmani, Razieh, Hassanian-Moghaddam, Hossein, Zamani, Nasim, McDonald, Rebecca, Gholami, Narges, Gachkar, Latif
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 03.12.2020; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Administration, Oral; Agitation, Methamphetamine; Anesthesia; Anxiety; Benzodiazepine; Blood pressure; Cardiac arrhythmia; Child; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Clinical medicine; Clinical trials; Clonazepam; Comparative analysis; Complications and side effects; Dosage and administration; Drug dosages; Drug therapy; Drugs; Fever; Health aspects; Humans; Hypertension; Hyperthermia; Infant; Lorazepam; Methamphetamine; Patients; Pediatric emergencies; Pediatric research; Pediatrics; Poisoning; Poisons; Toxicity; Treatment; Urine; Vital signs; Iran; Lorazepam; Treatment; Agitation, Methamphetamine; Clonazepam; Toxicity; Benzodiazepine
• ISSN: 1471-2431; 1471-2431
• DOI: 10.1186/s12887-020-02441-x

To evaluate the efficacy of oral clonazepam versus oral lorazepam following initial parenteral benzodiazepine administration to control methamphetamine-induced agitation in children. In a single-center clinical trial, intravenous diazepam (0.2 mg/Kg) was initially administered to all methamphetamine-poisoned pediatric patients to control their agitation, followed by a single dose of oral clonazepam (0.05 mg/Kg; n = 15) or oral lorazepam (0.05 mg/Kg; n = 15) to prevent relapse of toxicity. The median age [IQR] (range) was 15 [10, 36] (6-144) months. The source of poisoning was methamphetamine exposure from oral ingestion in 23 (76.7%) and passive inhalation in 7 (23.3%) patients. The most common symptoms/signs were agitation (29; 96.7%), mydriatic pupils (26; 86.7%), and tachycardia (20; 66.6%). Two in each group (13.3%) needed re-administration of intravenous diazepam due to persistent agitation. There was no report of benzodiazepine complications in either group. Clonazepam and lorazepam treatment was equally effective at similar doses. However, considering the higher potency of clonazepam, it seems that lorazepam is the safer benzodiazepine for oral maintenance treatment of methamphetamine-induced agitation in children and can be used with minimal complications. IRCT20180610040036N2, April 18th, 2020. Retrospectively registered.