title: Levetiracetam clinical pharmacokinetics in elderly and very elderly patients with epilepsy.
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.
authors.affiliation: UOC Clinica Neurologica, IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche, [corrected] Department of Neurological Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Foscolo 7, 40123 Bologna, Italy. manuela.contin@unibo.it
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Contin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Albani
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Riva
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baruzzi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000097:blood* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D005853:Geriatrics; D006801:Humans; D000077287:Levetiracetam; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010889:Piracetam / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000097:blood / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants; D000077287:Levetiracetam; D010889:Piracetam