title: Oxazepam kinetics: effects of age and sex.
abstract: Thirty-eight healthy male and female volunteers, 22 to 84 years of age, ingested single 30-mg doses of oxazepam tablets in the fasting state. Oxazepam plasma concentrations were determined by electron-capture gas-liquid chromatography in multiple samples drawn during 48 hr after the dose. Absorption of oxazepam was relatively slow with peak plasma levels reached an average of 2 to 3 hr after dosage. First-order absorption was observed in only 22 of the 38 subjects. Elimination half-life ranged from 4.9 to 19.4 hr and was longer (P < .05) in females (mean: 9.7 hr) than in males (7.8 hr). Half-life was not associated with age in males but tended to increase with age in females (r = 0.45). Oxazepam was extensively bound to plasma protein. The mean free fraction was 4.3% and did not differ between sexes. Free fraction tended to increase with age (r = 0.25), in part because of significantly lower plasma albumin concentrations in the elderly (r = -0.58). Assuming 100% systemic availability, clearance of total as well as unbound oxazepam was significantly greater in men than in women. Intrinsic clearance tended to decline with age in men (r = -0.21) and women (r = -0.24) but these associations were not significant. Higher oxazepam clearance was associated with heavy cigarette smoking but this did not explain the sex-related difference. Thus, sex is a more important determinant of oxazepam clearance than is age.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D007408:Intestinal Absorption; D007700:Kinetics; D008140:Lorazepam / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010076:Oxazepam / Q000378:metabolism*; D011485:Protein Binding; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking
chemical_list: D010076:Oxazepam; D008140:Lorazepam