Safety Clonidine may cause hypotension, bradycardia, rebound hypertension, somnolence and xerostomia. [5] Pharmacokinetics

Clonidine may cause hypotension, bradycardia, rebound hypertension, somnolence and xerostomia. [5]

Clonidine displays age‐related changes in pharmacokinetics attributable to the maturation of clearance during infancy. [20] It has a long elimination half‐life (16.9 hours in neonates, 11.4 hours in infants and 7.4 hours in children). [2, 21] Long half-lives necessitate the use of loading doses in order to reach therapeutic concentrations within a reasonable time. Without a loading dose, steady state would only have been achieved toward the end of the 72-hour study period for neonates. [21] Bioavailability of orally administered clonidine formulations has been estimated to be approximately 55% in children.[3] A target plasma concentration of above 2 μg/L has been proposed. [2] Clonidine titrated infusions with a loading dose of 2 μg/kg followed by a continuous infusion of up to 2 μg/kg/hour are recommended in hemodynamically stable PICU patients to achieve adequate sedation. Clonidine titrated infusions with a loading dose of 1 μg/kg followed by a continuous infusion of up to 1 μg/kg/hour are recommended in hemodynamically stable neonates. [2]