The anxiety and hemodynamic changes during spinal anesthesia for cesarean section after premedication with fentanyl or midazolam, a double blinded randomized clinical trial

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of premedication with intravenous midazolam or fentanyl on anxiety and hemodynamic changes following spinal anesthesia in pregnant women
145 pregnant women scheduled for cesarean section were randomly recruited into three study groups in this randomized clinical trial. The severity of anxiety in all women were assessed using Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) at the time of entrance to the operating room. In first group (group Midazolam) 1 mg midazolam (in 1 ml volume), in second group (group Fentanyl) 50 µg fentanyl (in 1 ml volume) and in third group (group control) , 1 ml normal saline were administered intravenously before preparing for anesthesia and then spinal anesthesia was done for all women in lateral position. Variables such as age, body mass index, duration of surgery, level of sensory block, gravidity, Apgar score, heart rate, systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressure before spinal anesthesia and then after every minutes until 5 minutes and then every 5 minutes until the end of surgery were recorded for all patients. Data were analyzed using SPSS (version 22).
Demographic variables, duration of surgery and Apgar score of neonates were not different between study groups. Women in three group were not different with respect to incidence of hypotension and bradycardia needed to treatment. The incidence of hypotension and bradycardia in patients with severe anxiety were statistically different between control and midazolam groups, but the same difference was not seen in patients with mild, moderate and very severe anxiety.
In this study, we showed that intravenous midazolam before spinal anesthesia for cesarean section can decrease the incidence of hypotension and bradycardia in patients with severe anxiety without any risk for mother and her neonate.