Table 1. Population characteristics for all patients and the two age sub-groups of neonates and older children.
| All Patients (n = 264) | Neonates (n = 153) | Older children (n = 111) | ||||
| No-atropine n = 140(%) | Atropine n = 124(%) | No-atropine n = 74(%) | Atropine n = 79(%) | No-atropine n = 66(%) | Atropine n = 45(%) | |
| Median age days [IQR] | 21* [0–220] | 1* [0–71] | 0 [0–2] | 0 [0–1] | 225 [78–861] | 134 [67–325] |
| Boys | 94 (67) | 85 (69) | 56 (76) | 60 (76) | 38 (58) | 25 (56) |
| Mean baseline heart rate, min-1 (SD) | 157* (133–181) | 150* (125–175) | 154 (132–176) | 148 (126–170) | 161 (135–187) | 154 (124–184) |
| NRD | 56 (40) | 61 (49) | 56 (76) | 61 (77) | – | – |
| NonNRD | 40 (29) | 18 (15) | 8 (11) | 4 (5) | 32 (48) | 14 (31) |
| Cardiac | 9 (6) | 4 (3) | 4 (5) | 3 (4) | 5 (8) | 1 (2) |
| ENT | 9 (6) | 11 (9) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 8 (12) | 10 (22) |
| Neurologic | 13 (9) | 20 (16) | 1 (1) | 5 (6) | 12 (18) | 15 (33) |
| Sepsis | 10 (7) | 7 (6) | 1 (1) | 3 (4) | 9 (14) | 4 (9) |
| Other | 3 (2) | 3 (2) | 3 (4) | 2 (3) | 0 (0) | 1 (2) |
| No sedation drugs | 35 (25) | 37 (30) | 30 (41) | 35 (44) | 5 (8) | 2 (4) |
| Ethomidate | 5 (4) | 5 (4) | 0 (0) | 1 (1) | 5 (8) | 4 (9) |
| Propofol | 44 (31) | 23 (19) | 10 (14) | 2 (3) | 34 (52) | 21 (47) |
| Ketamine | 12 (9) | 3 (2) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 12 (18) | 3 (7) |
| Morphine | 17 (12) | 12 (10) | 15 (20) | 11 (14) | 2 (3) | 1 (2) |
| Midazolam | 12 (9) | 22 (18) | 6 (8) | 15 (19) | 6 (9) | 7 (16) |
| Sufentanyl | 14 (10) | 19 (15) | 13 (18) | 15 (19) | 1 (2) | 4 (9) |
| Other | 1 (1) | 3 (2) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (2) | 3 (7) |
| Suxamethonium | 8 (6) | 3 (2) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 8 (12) | 3 (7) |
| Vecuronium | 1 (1) | 3 (2) | 1 (1) | 0 (0) | 3 (5) | 0 (0) |
| No-atropine (n = 57/66) | Atropine (n = 37/45) | |||||
| PRISMn = 93 | – | – | – | – | 10.5 [7]–[19] | 9 [5–13.5] |
All of the variables from the columns ‘All Patients’ were entered into the propensity score. the PRISM score was not used for the propensity score. Neonates are ≤28 days and older children >28 days and less than 8 years.
*
p value <0.05 for the difference between the atropine and non-atropine groups.
NRD - neonatal respiratory distress, Non-NRD - non-neonatal respiratory distress, ENT - ear nose and throat, PRISM - Paediatric RISk of Mortality score.