Anticholinergic drugs in paediatric anaesthesia. A survey of their present position in Finland 1990.

A survey regarding the present use of anticholinergic drugs in paediatric patients was carried out amongst anesthetists in Finland. Out of a total of 430 questionnaires 229 were returned after two mailings, giving a reply rate of 53%. Fourty-nine percent of the responders used these drugs routinely in premedication in 1990, while 55% were using them in 1985. In various age groups anticholinergic premedication was given most often to patients aged 0-1 year. The procedures in the airway region and eye surgery were the main indications for the preanaesthetic use of anticholinergic drugs while reflex bradycardia was the most frequent indication for administering these drugs during the perioperative period. Atropine and glycopyrrolate were the most popular drugs and the principal route of administration was intravenously, just before induction of anaesthesia. Glycopyrrolate with neostigmine was the most popular combination when the competitive neuromuscular block was reversed. It is concluded that almost half of the Finnish anaesthetists give anticholinergic premedication to children routinely and the position of anticholinergic drugs in paediatric anaesthesia has changed only a little during the last few years.