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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 07 1997, 1562-1565, Vol 41, No. 7
SC Chien, AT Chow, J Natarajan, RR Williams, FA Wong, MC Rogge and RK Nayak
The influence of age and gender on the pharmacokinetics of levofloxacin in
healthy subjects receiving a single oral 500-mg dose of levofloxacin was
investigated in this parallel design study. Six young males (aged 18 to 40
years), six elderly males (aged > or = 65 years), six young females
(aged 18 to 40 years), and six elderly females (aged > or = 65 years)
were enrolled and completed the study. The study reveals that the
bioavailability (rate and extent) of levofloxacin was not affected by
either age or gender. In both age (young and elderly) and gender (male and
female) groups of subjects, peak concentrations in plasma were reached at
approximately 1.5 h after dosing; renal clearance of levofloxacin accounted
for approximately 77% of total body clearance, and approximately 76% of the
administered dose was recovered unchanged in urine over the 36 h of
collection. The apparent differences in the calculated pharmacokinetic
parameters for levofloxacin between the age groups (young versus elderly)
and between the gender groups (males versus females) could be explained by
differences in renal function among the subjects. A single dose of 500 mg
of levofloxacin administered orally to both young and old, male and female
healthy subjects was found to be safe and well tolerated. As the
differences in levofloxacin kinetics between the young and the elderly or
the males and the females are limited and are mainly related to the renal
function of the subjects, dose adjustment based on age or gender alone is
not necessary.
Copyright © 1997 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Absence of age and gender effects on the pharmacokinetics of a single 500-milligram oral dose of levofloxacin in healthy subjects
The R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Raritan, New Jersey 08869, USA.
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