Pharmacokinetics of an intravenous bolus dose of clonidine in children undergoing surgery.

Background: Clonidine is used off-label in children but only limited pediatric pharmacokinetic data are available for intravenously administered clonidine.

Objectives: To determine pharmacokinetic parameter estimates of clonidine in healthy children undergoing surgery and to investigate age-related differences. Furthermore, to investigate possible pharmacokinetic differences of clonidine between this group of children and a cohort with cardiac diseases.