BMJ  2006;332 (20 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7551.0-d

HIV positive children were underdosed with antiretrovirals

On current best evidence, UK and Irish children infected with HIV have been underdosed with antiretroviral drugs in the past nine years. Menson and colleagues looked at doses of antiretroviral drugs for 615 HIV infected children aged 2-12 years (p 1183). The proportion of time when children were prescribed less than 90% of the current recommended dose varied between 6% and 62%. The authors say that the reasons for suboptimal doses, which may also be relevant to other paediatric prescribing, included poor pharmacokinetic data at licensing, guidelines stating alternative dosage strategies, and failure to adjust for children's growth.

Credit: PHOTOS.COM

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Underdosing of antiretrovirals in UK and Irish children with HIV as an example of problems in prescribing medicines to children, 1997-2005: cohort study

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