The effect of diazepam, flunitrazepam and droperidol with an analgesic on blood pressure and heart rate in man

Abstract

The effects of i.v. diazepam (0.3 mg/kg), droperidol (5 mg) and a new benzodiazepine, 5-(a-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-1-methyl-7-nitro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one (flunitrazepam, Ro 5-4200) (0.03 mg/kg) on blood pressure and heart rate was studied in 62 healthy volunteer students. Observations were made after each drug alone, after diazepam and flunitrazepam each combined with pethidine (1 mg/kg), and after droperidol combined with fentanyl (0.2 mg). The doses of the benzodiazepines were halved in those subjects given pethidine but the dose of droperidol was the same with and without fentanyl. The blood pressure was measured by auscultation and the heart rate by counting the radial pulse. The systolic and diastolic blood pressure was regularly decreased by not more than 20 and 11 mmHg, respectively. Changes in the heart rate were slight. Flunitrazepam did not have greater effects than diazepam or droperidol through the combination of flunitrazepam and pethidine seemed to induce a greater fall in systolic blood pressure than did the combination of diazepam and pethidine. None of the changes observed was clinically significant.