Limited sampling model for the estimation of pharmacokinetic parameters inchildren

A limited sampling model (LSM) is proposed for the first-time assessment of pharmacokinetic parameters (area under the concentration-time curve (AUC), C-max, and T-1/2) in children after a single oral dose of drug. Three drug s were evaluated in this study. The LSM was developed for each drug from th e data of 10 healthy adult volunteers. The relationship at selected time po ints between plasma concentration and the AUC or. C-max was evaluated by mu ltiple linear regression. The multiple linear regression that gave the best correlation coefficient (r) for 3 sampling times versus AUC or C-max was c hosen as the LSM. Pharmacokinetic parameters generated using sparse samplin g (3 blood samples) were compared with pharmacokinetic parameters generated using extensive sampling (>7 blood samples). The results indicated that a limited sampling model can be developed from adult data to estimate pharmac okinetic parameters in children with fair degree of accuracy.