ED95 of esketamine for reducing preoperative anxiety in children of different ages
Research Square November 11, 2025 Xuming Zhu, Xiaoyong Wei, Qianyu Guo et al.
The 95% effective dose (ED95) of esketamine for reducing preoperative anxiety in children aged 1–4 years is 0.86 mg/kg, and for children aged 4–6 years it is 0.43 mg/kg, indicating that older children require a lower dose. The study included 80 children undergoing elective general anesthesia, divided into two age groups. Doses were adjusted using a biased coin design, and isotonic regression with bootstrapping calculated the ED95 and 95% confidence intervals. The ED95 values are clinically relevant for covering 95% of patients.