Disposition of Chloramphenicol in Low Birth Weight Infants
- 1 October 1980
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in Pediatrics
- Vol. 66 (4) , 573-578
- https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.66.4.573
Abstract
Although infrequently an antibiotic of first choice for neonates, chloramphenicol (CL) may be indicated in selected instances of infection caused by aminoglycoside-resistant enterobacteriaciae, anaerobes, and ampicillin-resistant Haemophilus influenzae. Use of CL in neonates has been limited since the recognition that vascular collapse may occur as a consequence of dosage regimens tolerated by adults. With an assay that detects only active CL, we studied drug disposition in 13 low birth weight infants, eight between 1 and 8 days of age (group I), and five between 11 days and 8 weeks of age (group II). Peak serum CL concentrations ranged from 11.2 to 36.2 µg/ml in group I and from 10.0 to 36.2 µg/ml in group II, at doses ranging from 15 to 50 mg/kg/day, and 25 to 50 mg/kg/day, in groups I and II, respectively. Serum CL half-lives (T½) ranged from 10 to 36 hours in four of the eight group I patients; three of the remaining patients had T½ greater than 48 hours and the fourth patient accumulated CL in the interval between doses. T½ in group II ranged from 5.5 to 15.7 hours. Observed differences in T½ between groups I and II were statistically significant (P = .05) and could not be accounted for by factors other than postnatal age. These preliminary data suggest that although there appears to be an inverse relationship between CL T½ and postnatal age, there is sufficient variability in serum levels that monitoring must be performed in low birth weight infants treated with this drug.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
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- An Enzymatic Assay for Chloramphenicol with Partially Purified Chloramphenicol AcetyltransferaseThe Journal of Infectious Diseases, 1976