[What is important in treating elderly with H2 receptor antagonists].
Histamine 2 receptor antagonists (H2RA) has widely been used for the treatment of peptic ulcer or reflux esophagitis. H2RAs are relatively safe drugs and recently in Japan they can be purchased by over the counter without a doctor's prescription. However, in elderly, drug metabolism is different from younger people, so that there are several important points in treating elderly. First of all, elder people tend to have poor renal function. Dosage of H2RAs should be lowered accordingly. In particular, cimetidine is known to interfere with other drugs through hepatic metabolism, the concentration of co-committant drugs such as warfarin, benzodiazepine tend to be elevated. Cimetidine should be replaced by the other H2RAs which have no such effects.
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Teikyo University School of Medicine.
Susumu
S
Kurosawa
D000368:Aged; D002927:Cimetidine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology; D004347:Drug Interactions; D006635:Histamine H2 Antagonists / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008657:Metabolic Clearance Rate; D010437:Peptic Ulcer / Q000188:drug therapy*
D006635:Histamine H2 Antagonists; D002927:Cimetidine