Levetiracetam clinical pharmacokinetics in elderly and very elderly patients with epilepsy

M Contin; S Mohamed; F Albani; R Riva; A Baruzzi

doi:10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2011.08.020

Levetiracetam clinical pharmacokinetics in elderly and very elderly patients with epilepsy

Epilepsy Res. 2012 Feb;98(2-3):130-4. doi: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2011.08.020. Epub 2011 Sep 25.

Authors

M Contin¹, S Mohamed, F Albani, R Riva, A Baruzzi

Affiliation

¹ UOC Clinica Neurologica, IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche, [corrected] Department of Neurological Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Foscolo 7, 40123 Bologna, Italy. [email protected]

PMID: 21944894
DOI: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2011.08.020

Abstract

We aimed to compare apparent steady-state oral clearance (CL/F) of the antiepileptic drug levetiracetam (LEV) in elderly (66-80 years, n=105) and very elderly (81-96 years, n=70) vs nonelderly (30-65 years, n=97) patients with epilepsy. Median weight-normalized CL/F (mLmin(-1)kg(-1)) decreased from 1.23 (nonelderly) to 0.83 (elderly) and 0.59 (very elderly) (p<0.001). LEV CL/F significantly declines with aging, elderly and very elderly patients requiring an about 30% and 50% lower dose, respectively, compared to nonelderly adults to achieve a given LEV plasma concentration.

MeSH terms

Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Anticonvulsants / blood*
Anticonvulsants / therapeutic use*
Epilepsy / blood*
Epilepsy / drug therapy*
Female
Geriatrics
Humans
Levetiracetam
Male
Middle Aged
Piracetam / analogs & derivatives*
Piracetam / blood
Piracetam / therapeutic use
Prospective Studies
Retrospective Studies

Substances

Anticonvulsants
Levetiracetam
Piracetam