Pediatric Patients:
Proper drug dosing depends on:
- Age and weight: Young's rule, Clark's rule, Fried's rule
- Overall health status
- Condition of such biologic functions such as respiration and
circulation
- Stage of development of body systems for drug metabolism and
drug elimination
In neonate, these biologic functions and systems are
underdeveloped:
- Renal function develops over the span
of the first 2 yrs of life
- So if the drug elimination rate is
not properly considered then drug accumulation would occur leading
to drug overdose and toxicity.
Dosing consideration for adult
patients:
- For the adults with normal health
condition dosage is same but if they have health conditions like
hepatic, renal, cardiac, cancer, etc. then special considerations
of dosing is necessary.
- Example: in chemotherapy, dosing is
difficult as low dose will be ineffective whereas excessive causes
toxicity.
Thus consideration of pediatric dosing
is different from that of adults & it is necessary to avoid
adverse drug events.