Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of psychoactive drugs in old age.
It can be shown that aged patients need about 2/3 of the dose of younger adult depressive patients to reach a comparable serum level distribution. No difference could be found between younger and aged patients in the correlation between serum level and clinical outcome. This correlation can best be described as a kind of saturation curve. Taking the vast serum level range in patient collectives in therapy with tri- and tetracyclic antidepressives into consideration, a routine screening of serum levels of antidepressives is highly desirable.
D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D008297:Male; D008376:Maprotiline / Q000097:blood; D008875:Middle Aged; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D008376:Maprotiline