COMPARISON OF THE SEDATIVE AND AMNESIC EFFECTS OF MIDAZOLAM AND PROPOFOL

We have compared the sedative and amnesic effects of midazolam and pro pofol in 35 volunteers. Sedation was measured by simple reaction time immediately before and after a bolus injection and 1 h after the comme ncement of a subsequent continuous infusion. Memory was measured three times using two memory tests: perceptual facilitation provided an imp licit memory measure and recognition provided an explicit memory measu re. Propofol and midazolam had similar sedative effects both immediate ly after bolus doses and after 1-h continuous infusions of the drugs. In contrast, midazolam had a more profound amnesic effect than propofo l on the recognition memory test. The drugs had little effect on perfo rmance with the implicit memory test. Performance on the memory tests was unrelated to sedation.