The effect of obesity on dexmedetomidine dosing in ICU patients - retrospective study - Obesity and dexmedetomidine dosing

Fourteen obese patients and the same number of non-obese patients with similar backgrounds to the obese patients were selected from medical records. Doses of dexmedetomidine (DEX) in the first 48 h or until the end of sedation or extubation were calculated for comparison. There were no significant differences in DEX dose indices between the groups. However, DEX requirements (mcg/h) were significantly increased with TBW (kg) (r = 0.51, P = 0.003), BMI (r = 0.49, P = 0.006) and LBM (kg) (r = 0.42, P = 0.02).